


One Million

by mumsywrites



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Anal Sex, Background Annette/Mercedes, Background Glenn/Ingrid - Freeform, Blow Jobs, Breast Fucking, Hand Jobs, M/M, Minor Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan, Modern Fódlan, Polyamory, Riding, Sex Toys, Threesome - M/M/M, Urban Exploration, Youtuber AU, background Dedue/Ashe, background Edelgard/Dorothea, background jeritza/byleth, cringey sex talk, don't expect much plot here, minor references to crimson flower route, past dimiclaude, past dimidue, tit fucking, urbex au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 60,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28057131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mumsywrites/pseuds/mumsywrites
Summary: The Faerghus Lost Boys are an up and coming urbex video channel and they are ready to hit one million subscribers. The best way to get their numbers up? A whirlwind road trip though Fódlan where they visit and film infamous abandoned locations they've never seen before.Cute, fluffy, smutty fun with Dimitri, Sylvain, & Felix.(Rating for later chapters)
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 52
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is it! My 2020 NaNoWriMo project. I'm a big fan of a lot of urbex/abandoned youtube channels and a lot of the locations in the fic are inspired from real locations (some are in-game references, too). 
> 
> Updates will post weekly and tags will be added for all the fun shenanigans the boys will get up to in the later chapters (starting next week). I'll post content warnings in the header notes but nothing too serious happens in this fic. Just self-indulgent fun.
> 
> Enjoy!

_“Alright, are you rolling?”_

_“Sylvain, I’m on my phone, just go!”_

_“Hey there, all you guys, gals, and non-binary pals! This is Sylvain of the Faerghus Lost Boys. We just got on the road, all packed up in Dimitri’s truck. I’m driving, obviously, since Dimitri is, well…”_

_“Filming…”_

_“…sure, that’s why. And since Felix is useless.”_

_“Shut up! I’m not useless.”_

_“He’s in the back, doing stupid shit on the phone.”_

_“Yeah, and I’ll be up in the front in a bit to kick your ass!”_

_“Sylvain, please, can you just get to the point? Stop wasting time!”_

_“Right, right, yikes! So we’re on the road, heading the long way into Adrestia for our Whirlwind Urbex Roadtrip Adventure! Get ready for lots of stupid vlogs like this…”_

_“Sylvain!”_

_“…and plenty of uploads since Dimitri legit packed his entire set up in the truck. Be careful of housekeeping at the hotels, buddy.”_

_“We’ll be fine. Come on, time to wrap it up.”_

_“So we’ll see you on the flipside! Stay sexy!”_

\---

Dimitri sighs as he lowers his phone and stops the recording. “Sylvain, we agreed not to use that as our sign-off.”

Sylvain laughs, eyes ahead to the sprawl of interstate before him. “I know, I know. I figured the video was already a hot mess so I just went with whatever. You’ll do another take, right?”

Dimitri begrudgingly nods, clicking into the photo app and deleting the video. “I guess I have no choice.”

“Why are you doing vlogs, anyway? We’re not a vlog channel.”

Felix is lounging in the slim back seat of the pick up truck, his bare feet making smudges on the window; Dimitri knows Sylvain will yell at Felix to clean it up later. And that Dimitri will be the one to inevitably do the job after their arguing turns into a frantic make-out session; it’s Felix’s go-to method for getting out of doing things, a trait he picked up from Sylvain. Dimitri hates to admit how good the two of them are at the tactic.

“It’s meant to keep our subscribers updated on our travels,” Dimitri explains, starting a new video of the trees passing by outside his passenger side window. He makes a mental note to edit the sound out for this shot; he just can’t resist, it’s just too perfect of a shot. “ _And_ it’ll get us to one million even faster.”

“Shit, I still can’t believe we’re going for it,” Sylvain says, a wistful smile on his lips.

Felix groans, his fingers busy tapping on his phone. “There’s no way we’re getting to one million subscribers by the end of this trip. Didn’t we only pass 500 thousand a little while ago?”

“That was a few months ago, Felix,” Dimitri explains, leaning back. “We’ve already made it to…”

“Six hundred ninety thousand,” Sylvain says as he slides into the left lane, a slick smirk on his lips. “I’ll be sad to see that number go…”

“It’s 690, Sylvain, not 69.”

“It’s still hot.” He shoots Dimitri a smirk. “Right, babe?”

“You’re supposed to be driving, jackass,” Felix says, kicking the back of Sylvain’s headrest.

“Still, it’s a great number,” he sighs, dramatically, and swerves the car back into the right lane, the turn signal clicking loudly as he nears the next exit.

Felix jolts upright in the back and clings to the back of Sylvain’s seat. “Where the fuck are you even going?”

“Back roads.”

“Why?!”

“The stretch through Tailtean is coming up, and you know how much I hate that drive.”

Felix pokes his head between the front two seats, narrowing his eyes at Sylvain. “It’s gonna add like two hours to our trip to take the back roads!”

Dimitri groans, anxiously looking out the window at the approaching exit. “No, I agree with Sylvain. That stretch of road doesn’t sit well with me.”

“See? Dimitri thinks so, too!”

With a roll of his eyes, Felix situates himself back along the seat, toes rubbing up against the glass. “You two are idiots. None of those stories are real.”

“Doesn’t stop me from getting the heebie-jeebies while driving through it! And to be honest, I’m the driver, Dimitri’s the navigator, and you’re just…”

“Useless, apparently.”

Dimitri looks back, stretching back his arm to place his hand on Felix’s thigh. “You’re not useless, Felix.”

“He can’t drive,” Sylvain states, sliding into the exit lane and leaving the interstate behind. “So in this case, yeah. He’s useless.”

Felix flinches away from Dimitri’s touch, grumbling as he flips up the hood of his sweatshirt and turning away with his phone clutched in his hands.

Dimitri sighs, sitting back in his seat and looking out as more trees start to appear on the side of the road, throwing them into the backwoods of Faerghus. “You need to stop saying things like that, Sylvain.”

“Oh, he knows I’m teasing. Right Fe?”

There’s no answer from the backseat.

Sylvain merely smirks as he winds through the narrowing road. “Besides, we’ll make it up to him at the first hotel, right?” He winks at Dimitri and begins to laugh as the blonde’s face starts to heat up.

“I’m sleeping with Dimitri tonight,” Felix yells, muffled from his hoodie. “You can fuck off, for all I care.”

Sylvain fakes a frown before throwing another wink to Dimitri.

The air in the truck settles into a comfortable silence after that, nothing but the light hum of nostalgic pop-punk on the stereo and the occasionally sound of the blinker as Sylvain navigates the back country roads. Dimitri looks out the window, absently starting and stopping the video on his phone; he’ll get another vlog take from Sylvain in a bit, once they hit a clearing from all the trees and the lighting gets better. For now, he’s content to stare out the window and get lost in his thoughts.

One million subscribers. He never would have anticipated trying to reach such a goal when they first started the channel five years ago. It was a silly, self-indulgent project, spurred on by Sylvain entering their relationship and wanting Felix and Dimitri to be more spontaneous. So they took their spontaneity out of the bedroom, for once, and decided to break into an abandoned home. There was a thrill to it; the prospect of getting caught, the mystery of what could still be lying within. But Dimitri didn’t expect to find beauty in such a place, and after the first picture he took, of a dinner table, set and ready for a meal that would never happen, they sought out other locations and began to film.

“Hey, Sylvain. Ready for another take for the vlog?”

Dimitri flinches at the sound of Sylvain’s voice, looking down at his phone and back over to his boyfriend in the driver’s seat.

“Sure, babe, let’s do it.”

He points his phone at Sylvain, who clears his throat in such an obnoxious way that it gets a response from Felix, and presses record.

“Hey all,” he starts with a wink. “It’s me, Sylvain, of the Faerghus Lost Boys, but you already know that.” He laughs softly, the kind that so easily causes Dimitri to swoon, and looks back to the road. “We’ve just started our ‘One Million Subscriber’ roadtrip through Fódlan. It’ll be some time before our first video, but we’re doing it! Heading to some of the biggest, most infamous locations throughout Adrestia & Leicester. Some through your suggestions, some that have been on our wish list for years. We’re excited to explore and share some of the sights of Abandoned Fódlan with all of you! Until then, stay lost, my friends.”

Dimitri smiles and stops the recording. “Perfect.”

“I know I am, thank you.”

Felix groans and flips his body in the back seat. “Then why didn’t you do it that way in the beginning?”

“Because, like you said, I’m a jackass,” Sylvain responds with a toothy grin.

“Yes, you are,” Dimitri and Felix say in unison. Felix groans, but Dimitri can’t help but smile.

He truly could not be happier in that moment.

* * *

Night approaches, long after they’ve made it back onto the interstate. They pull off at the first exit they come to after sunset, and after a much needed fill-up at a gas station, Sylvain finds a motel just a mile or two away.

“Where are we?” Felix squeezes out from the back seat, stretching his arms high over his head as they slide into the motel parking lot.

“Not too far from Gaspard, by the look of it,” Dimitri says, checking his phone.

“Oh, nice! Maybe we can check out the Arianrod ruins in the morning!”

“No,” Felix snaps, plucking his duffle bag from the backseat. “We’re not going to Arianrod.”

Sylvain rolls his eyes, making his way towards check-in. “Come on, Dimitri wants to get some updated shots.”

Dimitri nods, lifting the lid of the truck bed to gather up his and Sylvain’s luggage. “It’s been a few years and I think our subscribers are going to love an updated explore!”

Felix whines, tossing his duffle bag to the curb and sitting beside it. “I don’t like that place, I’ve told you two before.”

Sylvain is already gone, off to get a room for the night. Dimitri pokes his head over the roof of the truck, his eyebrows knitted together. “I know,” he says, and Felix can hear how pensive he sounds. “But it’s really an interesting place. It was our first big success on the channel, I think an updated explore is a good idea.”

Felix lolls his head back, looking up at the gathering of twigs and leaves in the gutters of the cheap motel. “Fine, we can do a quick stop at Arianrod in the morning, but I’m leaving it up to you and Sylvain to film. I’m staying in the truck.”

Sylvain returns, twirling a key on his finger, and plops next to Felix, a firm hand landing on his shoulder. “What, you give Dimitri and me grief about not driving through Tailtean and then expect us to be sympathetic because you don’t want to explore an abandoned medieval fort?”

“Sylvain.” Dimitri’s voice has slipped its renowned dad tone as he heaves two large duffle bags out from the inner corners of the truck bed.

Sylvain laughs, placing a kiss on Felix’s cheek before standing up. “You can stay in the truck and keep tabs on the cats. Dimitri and I will try to be quick, okay?”

“Oh, how are they? Have you checked in yet?”

Felix sighs, unlocking his phone to access his nanny-cam app. He smiles as it loads up an angle of their apartment back in Fhirdiad, two small blobs resting on a couch in the far corner of the room. “They’re sleeping.”

“Well, yeah, they’re cats,” Sylvain says, grabbing his duffle bag from Dimitri and heading up the rusted stairs of the motel. “That’s what they do.”

“Have Annette and Mercedes been by yet?”

Felix nods, standing up and lugging his duffle bag over his shoulder, following Sylvain up the stairs. ”Annette texted me earlier. They went out for dinner, guess they’re not back yet.”

“Or they’re in the bedroom, breaking that bed in.” Sylvain laughs as he unlocks a door on the second floor, kicking it open.

Dimitri just sighs, following behind the other two as he beeps the truck locked. “Sylvain, please.”

“Hey, we told them to make themselves comfortable! Two incredibly lovely ladies, very much in love, are going to make use of that large and cozy king-sized bed. So…”

Grumbling, Felix walks into the room, noticing the stark difference between it and their room back home. “A double?”

“It’s a cheap roadside motel, Felix, what do want? This guy doesn’t have rooms with king-sized beds.”

Dimitri appears from behind and sighs with Felix. “Maybe we should have searched for hotels along the interstate before we left.”

“Where’s the fun in that?!” Sylvain throws his duffle bag on the far bed and jumps onto it, the bed making a sickening creek as he lands.

“Maybe don’t do that?” Dimitri, by contrast, sets his bag against the wall beside the other bed, sitting at the foot of it, his eyes scanning over the room.

Tossing his wherever it lands, Felix flops on the bed beside Dimitri, looking up at him. His blue eyes are flickering around the room and between the two beds, and Felix knows what’s on his mind.

“Just curl around me, you’ll be fine,” he says, resting his hand on Dimitri’s knee. “Sylvain can fuck his hand tonight, all alone over there.”

“Hey!”

Smiling, Dimitri leans down to kiss Felix on the forehead. “Thank you.”

There’s a flow of warmth from Dimitri’s lips that soothes Felix instantly; he’s quite ready to be curled up in Dimitri’s arms for the night, especially after having to endure being cramped up in the back seat of the truck all day.

Sylvain yawns loudly as he crosses the room towards the bathroom, tearing his shirt off on the way and tossing it towards the other two. “Well, I’m gonna shower first. I’m exhausted from driving all day.”

He shuts the door and Dimitri awkwardly holds Sylvain’s shirt in his hands.

“Why does he always have to act like this during vacations?” Felix groans, snatching the shirt from Dimitri and marching over to Sylvain’s side of the room to drop it onto his duffle bag. Before he does, he sneaks in a quick whiff, closing his eyes as he takes in Sylvain’s musk; it’s comforting after a long day, even if Sylvain is an ass.

“Wanna shower together when he’s done in there?”

Dimitri has sprawled himself across the bed, a funnier sight than intended since his legs are hanging off the end of it. Felix laughs with a breath through his nose and crosses back over, crawling back onto the bed to slip right into Dimitri’s arms. “Honestly? I’d rather just sleep. We can shower in the morning.”

With a smile, Dimitri envelopes Felix in his arms, rolling over until the other man is on top of him, and kisses him softly, his eyes shuttering closed. “I think that’s a lovely plan.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys go on their first explore! We've got the first [brief] sex scene in this chapter so if you'd like to bypass that it happens between “There’s a lingering sweetness…” and “They finish up, hastily…”
> 
> Enjoy!

Felix wakes with his face plastered against Dimitri’s bare chest, his arms curled up in front of him like some sort of cat. Large, muscular arms are wrapped tight around him and the moment he moves, Dimitri’s hold tightens.

“Hnn, no,” Dimitri mumbles, burying his face into the nest that is Felix’s hair.

Felix grumbles; he’s tired and, although comfortable in Dimitri’s vice grip, quite ready to get out of bed.

“Come on, you big oaf, get off me.” Felix squirms until Dimitri’s hold slackens, allowing Felix to stretch out his arms and sit up. It doesn’t take long for Dimitri’s arms to wrap around his waist once more, bringing him in closer. Felix sighs, resigned to his fate. “Of course.”

With a glance to the opposite side of the room, Felix sees that Sylvain’s bed has been made and the red head is nowhere to be seen. He reaches for his phone, a text notification lighting up the screen, despite being sent 20 minutes ago:

_“Getting breakfast. You two enjoy yourselves.”_

The corners of his lips curve up just slightly. He unlocks his phone, sends a quick text back, and immediately opens up the nanny-cam app to check on the cats at home. He can spot Annette in the living room with Josie on her lap. He can’t see Pepper, but Felix assumes he’s in the other room, under the bed. Felix smirks, leaving the app to send a quick text to Annette:

_“I can see you.”_

It takes a few moments for her to respond, and once he opens the app back up, he can see her jump into the air, Josie flying up with her, and she scurries over to the camera to wave. Felix laughs, setting his phone down and glancing over the behemoth attached to his waist.

Dimitri is drooling against Felix’s shorts, but he doesn’t mind; they _had_ planned on showering together in the morning, anyway. He threads his fingers through Dimitri’s soft blond hair, loose strands tickling Felix’s thighs. Soon, two sleepy blue eyes look up at him, one with a slightly foggy hue to it.

“F-felix?” His lip is practically stuck to the hem of Felix’s shorts, an attractive sight indeed, but Felix continues to rustle his hair as Dimitri yawns his way out of sleep.

“Sylvain’s getting breakfast.”

Dimitri unlatches his arms from around Felix’s waist, stretching them out but not budging from his spot on the bed. “That’s good.”

Taking advantage of his new found freedom, Felix swings his legs over the side of the bed, his thumbs hooked under the waist band of his shorts as he narrows his eyes at Dimitri, a slick smile on his face. “Ready for that shower?”

Felix’s words work as an alarm for Dimitri as he nearly bolts out of the bed, standing beside Felix and slipping his thumbs just beside his partner’s in his shorts. “Why, yes, I am.”

Felix leans up, ready to nibble on Dimitri’s bottom lip, when the door jerks open; Sylvain has returned.

“You two up already?” He eyes their hands and gives them a wink before dropping the large, brown paper bag beside the ancient box TV. “I can see that Dimitri is wide awake.”

Dimitri presses against Felix, his morning wood pressing up against Felix. “M-morning, Sylvain.”

“Nothing to be shy about, babe,” he says with a wink. “You two take your time waking up and when you’re all ready, I’ve got some bagels. But we’ve gotta get on the road soon because we need to get into Adrestia _today_.”

Felix sighs, grabbing Dimitri’s hands and pulling them out from his shorts. “Eat first, then shower?”

Dimitri nods, his eyes shut tight and his face bright pink; it’s such a common predicament of his, Felix has no idea why he’s so easily embarrassed by it.

Felix pecks him quickly on the lips before diving for the bag of bagels, the smell of melted cheese and bacon wafting from inside. He reaches in and grabs a foil wrapped bagel, the grease dripping through the folds and onto his fingers. “Sweet Seiros,” he says, unwrapping it and taking a bite.

Dimitri waddles behind him and grabs his bagel, sitting awkwardly at the edge of the bed as he nibbles on his everything bagel with scallion cream cheese.

“Where’s yours?” Felix turns to Sylvain, his mouth full of bacon-egg-and-cheese.

“Ate it on the way back, sorry,” he said, folding his clothes and placing them strategically in his duffle bag. “Like I said, I’d like to get on the road. Want to make sure we have enough time to get our updated shots of Arianrod before heading out to Hevring.”

Dimitri nods, a glob of cream cheese hanging from his lips.

Felix takes a bite, slowly churning the details of their road plans in his head; the hospital in Hevring is something he’s quite excited to see. “Are we gonna have enough time for two explores today?”

“I wish,” Sylvain says, checking his phone. “But we’ll definitely be able to check out Hevring tomorrow. A stop at Arianrod won’t hurt us.”

“Are you sure?” Dimitri wipes off the cream cheese with his thumb and thoughtfully sucks it off; Felix tries not to stare too long, before his own early morning erection springs to life.

“Yup, made sure we could sneak it in just for you, babe.” Sylvain tosses the keys in the air and catches them, continuing the annoying habit throughout the rest of the conversation. “So hurry the fuck up! Make it a quickie in the shower, please?”

“How about you just blow him now, Sylvain?

“You want that babe?” Sylvain leans over his bed, chin in his hands, as he stares at Dimitri. “Or do you wanna fuck Felix’s soapy hole?”

Felix tosses the crumpled tin foil at Sylvain’s head, getting a laugh from the red head. Dimitri’s flush only worsens, creeping down to his bare chest.

Felix knows that look, better than most people. He takes Dimitri’s hands in his and guides him to the bathroom. “Come on, let’s get in the shower. I’ll take care of you.”

“A-ah, yes, thank you.”

He’s trying to ignore the gross kissing sounds coming from Sylvain and is thankful for the door and walls between them once he’s in the bathroom with Dimitri. “He can be the worst sometimes.”

Dimitri is awkwardly bent over to tub as he starts to run the shower, the faucet handles so low for a man his size. With a simple glance, Felix knows Dimitri will barely fit in on his own, let alone the two of them together. He’ll do his best to find a way, though. With a smirk, he slips out of his sleep shorts and wraps his arms around Dimitri’s waist, nipping at the skin on his back.

“Sylvain will give us shit if we take too long,” he mumbles against trembling skin. “Good thing I know how to get you off quickly.”

Dimitri shudders, his hands instinctively going for his crotch. He nods, the water nearly spraying out of the shower with the curtain partly open.

“Let’s get in,” Felix says, stepping into the shower and reaching out his hand for Dimitri to join him.

It hardly takes a second for Dimitri’s boxers to flutter towards the floor, his hands gripping Felix tight, nearly eating him alive in a kiss.

There’s a lingering sweetness from the cream cheese on his tongue, but Felix still enjoys the heat of Dimitri’s mouth regardless. The water from the shower sprays in odd directions, sometimes sputtering, sometimes letting out a flood, until they’re both drenched. Felix’s hand slips down to take Dimitri’s cock in his hand and Dimitri whimpers.

“Wash my hair, yeah?”

Dimitri nods, clearly dazed from Felix’s touch, and reaches for the cheap, complimentary 2-in-1 shampoo as Felix gets down on his knees along the slippery bottom of the tub.

He doesn’t hesitate to get to work.

Dimitri is always a sight in the morning, drool down his chin, cock peeking out from his boxers, and Felix can generally get him to come in np time; it’s not much of a challenge when Dimitri is so ready and pliable in the morning. This shouldn’t be any different.

Felix puckers his lips around the tip of his lover’s cock and Dimitri immediately folds, his hands covered in what can only be marginally defined as a combination of shampoo and conditioner. Shaking hands run through Felix’s soaked hair, building up a lather as Felix’s tongue works expertly at the slit of Dimitri’s cock. He knows he has to keep his head titled up; too many shower blow jobs have gone wrong in the past, but it feels so nice to have Dimitri’s hands on his scalp, primping him but not quite guiding him; Dimitri is good at letting Felix take the lead.

Felix can tell by the way Dimitri is trying to control his hips, shaking to keep them back, desperately trying not to thrust. He smirks, taking more of Dimitri’s thick length into his mouth.

“O-ohh,” Dimitri keens from above, his hands gripping into Felix’s sudsy hair. He’s close, Felix knows. In just a few more licks of his tongue, he’ll have his second breakfast, a thought that should honestly make him want to hurl.

But he loves it; Dimitri _always_ tastes good.

He bobs his head along the top half of Dimitri’s length, cheeks hollowed, and in due time, his mouth is full.

Dimitri doesn’t really move, but he does cry out.

“F-felix, aah!”

Felix gleefully drinks him down, sucking Dimitri dry before he pops his mouth off his cock. With a lick of his lips, he looks up at Dimitri; hair soaked, dripping down his face, the water from the shower head spraying everywhere, and a smile, one Felix loves to see.

“Thanks,” he chokes out, lifting Felix back up to stand beside him.

“Well, yeah.” Felix turns away; even after five years, he can’t get over what Dimitri’s smile, what his voice, does to him. He closes his eyes tight and finishes rinsing out his hair. “We should…uh…”

“Yes.”

They finish up, hastily washing one another with the cheap hotel body wash and each share a towel that can barely cover Dimitri’s front. They get a quick laugh out of it, gather their shorts from the floor, and step out of the bathroom along with the steam.

“Good shower?”

Sylvain is ready to go, as is evident by the smell of his cologne hanging in the air.

“Seriously, Sylvain?” Felix pinches his nose and attempts to wave the cologne away from him. “We’re gonna be stuck in a car all day and you douse yourself in that shit?”

“Please don’t nag me about my beauty routine, Felix.”

Swinging his duffle back behind him, Sylvain stands from the bed and jostles both the truck and hotel keys in his hands. “Hurry up and get dressed. I want to check out and get on the road. We’ve got about a half hour to reach Arianrod and then: Adrestia! I’ve gotta see that hospital.”

Sylvain steps out, leaving Felix and Dimitri in the room. Felix rummages through his duffle bag, pulling out a pair of sweatpants, a tee shirt, and his hoodie from the previous day; he doesn’t care what he looks like, since he’s resigned himself to staying in the truck.

He doesn’t want to explore Arianrod. The last time they went, back when they first started the channel, left him with nightmares for weeks. It wasn’t that the ruins were all that scary or frightening; it was a damn national park, hardly even abandoned, but Dimitri had insisted. Nothing but boring stone walls and a fortress that was crumbling from centuries of vacancy.

It was just…there was something about the front gates that unnerved him and for weeks, he had nightmares filled with screams and bloodshed. He’d wake up in a sweat, remembering nothing but the ache in his chest.

He sighs, tying up his wet hair and slipping his bare feet into his sneakers, the backs of them pressed down under his heels. “Ready?” He holds his duffle bag and looks over at Dimitri, eyes darting between two practically identical flannel shirts, one slightly more blue than the other.

“Which one should I wear?”

Rolling his eyes, Felix grabs the slightly less blue one and shoves it into Dimitri’s arms. “That one.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Dimitri,” he says, trying not to groan; the look on Dimitri’s face is enough to tell Felix that he failed. “Sylvain’s waiting. We need to leave, right?”

After moments of commiserating, Dimitri nods, slipping the top on over his tight, white tank. No matter what the man wears, he’s still ridiculously hot, and Felix will always stare longer than he should.

Dimitri smiles, slings his bag over his shoulder, and leans over to kiss Felix.

“Shall we go?”

He winks and Felix just nods; they should have spent more time in the shower.

* * *

Their ride to Arianrod is unnecessarily bumpy. Felix is sitting up in the middle seat, elbows on his knees, hands folded under his chin, and eyes straight ahead; he’s going to puke. He doesn’t know if it’s because of the uneven roads or the looming threat of seeing that dumb fortress, but he _knows_ he’s going to puke.

He won’t. He refuses. But the sour feeling in his stomach is churning, and he can feel the burn of it low in his throat. With a slow swallow, he groans. Hopefully low enough that Dimitri and Sylvain won’t hear it over the stupid slow jams playing on the stereo.

“Nyahooo,” Sylvain attempts to croon out, throwing a wink to Dimitri and looking back at Felix. “You alright there, babe? Need a bag?”

“No,” Felix spits out through tight lips; if his mouth opens any wider, he’s sure the windshield will be covered in half digested bacon-egg-and-cheese.

Dimitri’s hand appears on Felix’s knee and his fingers give a soft squeeze. “We’re almost there.”

That’s exactly what he doesn’t want. He wants to see rows of abandoned strip malls and the pathetic glow of a dying neon sign. He doesn’t care about Arianrod, about whatever battles left it in shambles a millennium ago, or the soldiers that manage to scream in his head during those sleepless nights.

But Dimitri wants to. And sometimes, he hates to admit, revisiting locations for an updated explore gets the numbers to go up on the channel.

“Yeah, I know,” he says through a sigh and grabs Dimitri’s hand, squeezing it hard.

“And there it is! Look at it…”

Dimitri’s eyes immediately dart forward and he’s leaning over the dashboard, nose pressed up against the windshield. “Ah, look at it!”

Crumbling stone. Big deal.

_It’s for Dimitri, Felix. Remember that. He likes the historical locations._

“Yup,” Felix manages to croak out.

The truck rumbles over a few more choice bumps, including one that makes Felix clutch his hand over his mouth.

_Not now, not now…_

And eventually, it stops. Sylvain throws the truck into park and leaps out the door. “Ah, love that Faerghus air in the fall,” he says, chest puffed out and eyes closed. “Get a good whiff of it, Fe. Might help to settle that stomach of yours.”

“Shut up,” he says, finally laying down along the back seat. The door behind his head opens up and Dimitri is there, smiling down at him.

“Rest up, okay? We won’t take too long. Just want some updated shots since we’re back with…”

“…better filming equipment, yeah.” He nods as Dimitri leans down to kiss his forehead and heads back towards the truck bed, leaving the door open.

Felix is rather thankful for the cool autumn air, and the breeze about his temples actually manages to soothe his stomach. Until it lurches back when Dimitri jumps into the uncovered bed, rocking the truck about to unload their cameras.

“Fuck…”

Felix hugs his stomach. He just wants this to pass.

After several minutes of continued rocking, Dimitri and Sylvain appear in the now opened door at his feet, cameras slung over their necks, hanging at their chests.

“Don’t spew back there,” Sylvain says, walking off.

“Sylvain, really, you need to be nicer…”

Their voices trail off in the distance but Felix can hear Sylvain’s trademark cackle even after their footsteps die off.

He’s lying there. Alone. In the back of a truck, parked in some wooded spot by a partially abandoned, state-funded medieval fortress that spits nonsensical nightmares into his head.

And he’s going to puke.

Right now.

Felix nearly tumbles out of the truck to puke into a gathering of high grass and weeds. He’s thankful that he made it out of the truck; cleaning it would have been a nightmare and Sylvain is petty enough to have Felix do it half covered in vomit. Even Dimitri wouldn’t lend a hand, he’s sure of it. He’s unfortunately lost part of his breakfast and he shuts his eyes at the odd pearly consistency at his feet.

But at least the ache in his stomach is gone.

He sighs and hobbles back to the truck to dig a water bottle from his duffle bag; anything to get that rancid taste out of his mouth.

The chill of the water is bracing against his teeth and he rinses out a good amount of vomit, spitting it into a different patch of grass. Wiping his mouth against his sleeve, he walks around the truck, taking a sip and actually swallowing the water this time, and spots Dimitri and Sylvain, not too deep into the fortress.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Felix narrows his eyes, trying to make sense of how they’re angling their cameras, and shakes his head. “They’re hopeless without me.”

He storms into Arianrod, ignoring the feeling a dread licking up his spine as he passes through the main gate.

“What are you even filming?”

“Felix!” Dimitri turns, his smile too wide for Felix’s liking.

It’s not that Felix doesn’t _like_ it; it’s just the wider it gets, the faster Felix’s heart tends to beat.

“Got some vom on your shirt,” Sylvain says, pointing to the gross trickle of puke on Felix’s hoodie.

He looks down and groans; the ride to Hevring is sure to be a long one. “Shut up! What are you doing?”

Dimitri just points to a fortress tower, the roof caved in and mostly composed of bird nest at this point. “We thought we’d start here, and then…”

Felix grumbles and nearly snatches the camera from Dimitri. “You two are shit at planning your shots, you know that?”

Dimitri smiles, Sylvain laughs, and Felix takes them through a free crash course of cinematography 101, showing them the best angles to shoot, which parts of the fortress should be focused on; he wonders how the hell he started a channel with them.

It takes a little over an hour for them to finish filming, and between two cameras there’s enough footage for Dimitri to splice together a nice “reunion” video or whatever he wants.

They walk back to the truck, Dimitri’s arm tucked around Felix’s waist, and pack up the cameras before sealing the truck bed shut once more. They’re on the road again, but not before Felix takes the time to change his hoodie; Sylvain’s cologne may be disgusting, but it’s much better than dealing with the smell of vomit for several hours.

“So,” Dimitri says, flipping through the radio before landing on a station playing static-filled country music, “how long until we get to Hevring?”

“Shouldn’t take us too long. I hope.”

Felix groans and lies along the back seat. The road on the interstate is at least smooth and Arianrod is far enough behind him; he can finally check in on the cats in peace.

* * *

The ride to Hevring doesn’t take _that_ long; there are a few windy roads through the low mountains in Adrestia that makes Sylvain sneak a glance or two in the back seat to make sure Felix doesn’t spew chunks again. He looks good, lying on the back seat, staring up at his phone; probably at Josie & Pepper, he’s such an attentive cat dad.

Good. He’s glad.

He looks over at the passenger seat and is somewhat surprised to see Dimitri’s head leaning against the window, his eyes closed, and a drip of drool ready to drop from his lips.

Sylvain smiles; any amount of sleep is a good amount for Dimitri. Sure, it’s probably not comfortable, but for him, it’ll do.

The sun set not too long ago, but there’s still a wisp of pink on the western edge of the sky as they finally make it into Hevring. Sylvain notes how close they’ll be to the Adrestian beaches and even though it’s fall, he wouldn’t mind streaking across the sands with his two lovers in tow.

They’d never _agree_ to it, but it’s still fun to imagine.

To be fair, Dimitri might agree to. With enough alcohol in him, Felix definitely would.

He pulls at the side of the road and puts the truck in park, gliding his thumb over the screen of his phone to unlock it and search for a nearby hotel.

“Where are we?” Felix sits up, yawning, and pockets his phone as he leans his head forward between the front two seats.

“Hevring. Just looking for a good hotel. We’ll need it for two nights, so…”

“Get a king,” Felix says, an edge to his voice. “And stop for food, I’m fucking starving.” He slips back into the back seat — hood up, phone out.

Sylvain sighs a, “Yes, dear,” as he continues his search for nearby hotels that aren’t sketchy, run down, or possible murder locations.

No luck.

Even in Adrestia, the farther you are from the cities, the less appealing the accommodations are. He’s just thankful he can find a room with two queens instead of a double; that last bed left him with a nasty crick in his neck and he can only imagine how bad it was for Dimitri.

“Hey, Fe,” he whispers, a snore escaping from Dimitri’s mouth. “Not a king but I found a room.”

“Whatever,” he says, not minding his volume. “Just get some drive-thru before we get there, okay?”

Sylvain stops himself from uttering another, “yes dear;” he knows Felix will punch him for it. He rolls the truck out of its spot and heads down the two lane road, not as tree covered as the ones back in Faerghus, but still significantly creepy at the current time of twilight.

Eventually, they make it to a fast food restaurant and Sylvain orders an obscene amount of food. Felix is hovering over his shoulder while they order, yelling out half the menu because he’s apparently that hungry.

Sylvain understands that, yes, he did puke earlier, but shouldn’t he take it easy?

The smell of melted cheese is apparently enough to wake Dimitri from his nap and he reaches for a burger before even saying a word.

“Good morning, your highness,” Sylvain teases as their hotel for the night looms in the distance.

He merely grunts in response, barely unwrapping the burger before shoving half of it in his mouth.

“Let him wake up,” Felix warns, popping a chicken nugget in his mouth.

“Hey, no eating in the truck!”

“Dimitri is!”

“It’s his truck, he gets a pass. Also he’s…”

Sylvain can’t quite say he’s awake, but he’s definitely not asleep anymore.

Felix grumbles, closing up his bag and crossing his arms. “Check-in better be quick.”

Sylvain parks right outside the front office and points a warning finger at Felix before he leaves. “If I find one nuggy crumb back there later, so help me Goddess, I won’t touch you for a week.”

Felix huffs but Sylvain slams the door before he has the chance to bite back a response.

He saunters into the small building that houses the front desk, a middle-aged man clicking absently through a computer screen.

“Good evening,” Sylvain says, getting the man to at least acknowledge his presence. “Do you have a room available? Preferably two queens for three guests and two nights?”

The desk clerk doesn’t move his eyes from the computer, just continues to click through the menus on the screen until after about a minute or so he chirps out, “Card? ID?”

Sylvain rifles through his wallet, taking out the road trip approved credit card along with his license.

A hand appears from behind the counter to pull them towards the desk clerk and his eyes move for the first time, down the the cards, up to Sylvain’s face, and back to the computer.

There’s more silence, save for the clicking of the computer mouse and the keyboard. After another minute, he slides a pair of key cards over the counter, along with Sylvain’s credit card and license; he’s sure that Felix has definitely eaten through his first pack of chicken nuggets by now.

“Room 205.”

“Thanks!”

“Breakfast starts at 7, ends at 10,” the clerk says, nodding his head towards an empty dining room to his right.

Sylvain nods, takes his cards, and bolts out of the office; one minute longer in there would solidify his brief theory that the place is purgatory.

When he makes it back to the truck, Dimitri is standing outside, fully awake with a sunny smile on his lips.

“Room 205,” he says, tossing a card towards him.

“How long are we staying here again?”

“Two nights, babe. Wanna bring your computer shit in?”

Dimitri laughs and heads towards the truck bed. “You read my mind.”

“Well, you said you wanted to get some editing done, so…”

Dimitri nods as he uncovers the truck bed, sliding one of the big black plastic containers out from the far corner. “I figured the earlier I posted our videos, the easier it will be to get more subscribers.”

“Love how you think, babe.”

Dimitri smiles, hiding his face in his hair as he balances the container on his shoulder.

“Hey, uh, what about the cameras?”

“I took the memory cards out already,” he says, walking across the lot to the main hotel building. “I know what I’m doing.”

Sylvain smiles before Felix appears before him, punching him in the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Give me a key card,” he says, a chicken nugget between his teeth.

“You’re so impatient,” Sylvain whines, relinquishing the other key card.

Felix snatches it from Sylvain’s hand, ignoring Sylvain’s attempt at giving him puppy dog eyes. He sighs, and grabs his and Dimitri’s duffle bags from the truck bed before locking it back up.

Once inside the hotel building, he notices that, while still not the best, this hotel is several stars better than the last one. It smells clean, at the very least. He takes the stairs to the second floor — he’s filmed far too many abandoned elevator shafts to ever trust riding one again — and turns the corner, their room the first on the left. It’s been propped open, and he knows that was Dimitri’s doing.

“Alright, boys, what’s the consensus?”

Felix’s face is full of chicken nugget, a smear of barbecue sauce under his lip. Dimitri is standing thoughtfully by the desk in the back corner, his chin cradled in his hand and his brows knitted tightly together.

“Busy, got it,” Sylvain says to the empty response. He walks over to the far bed and quietly celebrates the fact that it’s significantly bigger than the last one. Tossing his duffle bag to the floor, he flops down onto it and for a hotel bed, it’s nice. Too soft for its own good, but at least he’s not drowning in it.

“Hey Felix, toss me a burger!”

Felix groans and digs through the bag, taking out a burger and tossing it over to Sylvain. “I can’t eat in the car, but you can eat in bed?”

“I don’t make a mess,” he says, getting up and walking over to Felix; he leans down and licks the smear barbecue sauce from his below lip.

Felix’s face is red but he still manages to mumble, “could have gotten the burger yourself,” under his breath.

Sylvain laughs, returns to his bed, and stares at Dimitri, who is still just standing before the desk, eyes scanning it over and over.

“You know,” he says, finally biting into food for the first time since the morning, “it won’t get any bigger the longer you stare at it.”

Dimitri laughs and finally moves, sitting beside Sylvain with that beautifully dopey smile on his lips. “I know, I’m just trying to figure out my set-up.”

“You’re really gonna edit that Arianrod video tonight?”

Dimitri shrugs. “Tonight, when I wake up. Honestly, whenever there’s time. We’re here to reach one million subscribers, right?”

The words hang in the air around Sylvain; _one million_.

It’s a pipe dream, that’s for sure. He wasn’t even confident that a channel like theirs would gain any kind of following at all; honestly, it was just a hobby, started by an idea Dimitri thought up after an intense therapy session, apparently spurred on by Sylvain’s desire to be more “spontaneous.” He never expected it to turn into a career, of sorts.

True, Sylvain still takes some bartending jobs to make ends meet and Dimitri does some freelance editing for other channels from time to time. It’s enough to let Felix stay home to take care of the cats all day after his lengthy gym sessions; such is the life for their designated “house husband.” At the end of the day, the videos they post bring in some decent money, some more so than others.

He remembers the announcement video they made when they first decided to embark on their current road trip, how many of their followers were excited at the prospect of seeing more infamous locations outside of Faerghus. Places like the Ordelia State Asylum and Derdriu Wonderland & Water Park. Places with enough good urbex footage already, but none from them. None from their vision, or rather, Felix’s vision, as he so often reminds Dimitri & Sylvain.

The prospect of the trip was exciting. And of course, all the hotel stays would be nice, too; as if they don’t already spend every night together at home in their obnoxiously large king sized bed.

“That’s right,” he says, finally taking a bite into his burger. His stomach grumbles immediately at the introduction of food to his body, and Dimitri laughs.

The rest of the night is a whirlwind of channel surfing on the TV and listening as Dimitri curses quietly trying to get his computer set up together.

Sylvain ends up on the other bed, Felix tucked under his arm, preoccupied with his phone, while Sylvain debates ordering something dirty to watch on pay-per-view.

A low groan resonates from beside him and he looks down at Felix, his eyes glued to his phone.

“What? Did the cats get into something, or…?”

“It’s Glenn,” he sighs, pocketing his phone and curling up tighter under Sylvain’s hold. “Ingrid…broke off their engagement.”

Sylvain’s finger freezes over the button on the remote. “You’re kidding.”

“No,” Felix says, and the phone is back in his hands. “And he won’t stop texting me about it. Even Dad keeps harassing me even though they both know I’m on a trip right now.”

Sylvain swallows, electing to just kiss Felix’s head and not speak at all; Ingrid is single now. That’s interesting information.

“How about,” he says, rubbing a soothing hand over Felix’s hips, “you ignore your brother’s whiny break-ups texts and check in on the cats.”

Felix laughs, and Sylvain’s happy that he’s smiling again, tapping into the nanny-cam app to look at the cats.

“They only ever sleep like this when we’re not at home,” he says, his tone a little lighter, but Sylvain can still hear the exhaustion of the day on his voice.

He cranes his neck to look at the image on Felix’s phone; there’s a blob of black and tortoise shell colors, but indeed, both Pepper and Josie are curled together on the couch. The girls watching their apartment are nowhere to be seen and Sylvain bites back on commenting what he knows they’re doing in the bedroom.

“Cute,” is all that he allows to come out of his mouth as he turns off the TV and kisses Felix on the forehead. Felix yawns, pocketing his phone once more, and snuggles in closer to Sylvain’s side.

The bed beside them creeks as Dimitri falls into it.

“Done?”

“For now,” he yawns out. “It’s definitely time for bed, though.”

Sylvain nods and reaches over to turn out the lights in the room. “Yes it is.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features the first "non-canon" explore of the boys' trip. I wanted to mix in locations from the game and then throw in my own idea of what would be abandoned in a "modern Fódlan." More on that in the end notes.
> 
> There's a lot of jumping between POVs in this chapter, most notably at the "explore." I wanted to sift through each of their ideas throughout the scene, so...yeah.
> 
> Also! Sex scene (I like this one, tee hee), but if YOU don't, it starts at "It isn’t long into Sylvain working the kinks out of Dimitri’s neck..." and ends at "After moments of the two of them lying there...".
> 
> Enjoy!

There’s a glow coming from the corner of the room when Felix wakes up. A high pitched note, barely decipherable, is hanging in the air. He yawns, stretching around Sylvain, and looks over to see Dimitri — headphones on, eyes glued to the screen. Felix can see flashes of their trip to Arianrod on the monitor.

“You’re…editing?”

Of course Dimitri doesn’t hear him, but Felix is still annoyed at the lack of a response. He rolls over on top of Sylvain to check the time on the night stand: 6:37 AM.

Grumbling, Felix rolls out of bed and nearly falls to the floor; no response from either of his boyfriends at that, either. Sylvain does, however, whine at the loss of warmth. He trudges over to Dimitri and pokes him in the side.

“Hey!”

Dimitri just tilts up his head, removing one of the ears of his headphones and smiling up. “Morning,” he says in that low, husky whisper that never fails to make Felix’s knees weak.

“How long have you been up?” Felix plops on the bed behind him, gathering up the blankets to burrow within them.

Dimitri turns back to the computer and shrugs. “A while, don’t really remember.”

 _Liar_.

He’s watching the footage scroll by on the screen, Dimitri resuming his work at watching a clip, rewinding it, watching it again, rewinding it…

It’s tedious work, something Felix totally doesn’t have the patience for, but for Dimitri, it’s proven to be a good coping mechanism. A distraction for his mind, focused solely on the work at hand, on their footage, trying to blend everything into one cohesive video. And over the years, he’s gotten good at it. There’s a reason they have well over half a million subscribers in nearly four years of having the channel: Dimitri knows what he’s doing.

Felix leans forward, his chin balancing on Dimitri’s shoulder. “That a good shot.”

On the screen, there’s a nice slow pan on some bright gray stone at Arianrod before skipping to the next shot of Dimitri climbing up one of the winding guard towers.

“Yeah, but I really like,” he starts softer, skimming through the video, “this one.”

Dimitri lands on a shot from the top of the guard tower, a pan of nearly the entire fortress.

It’s stunning.

For as much as Felix hates the place, it truly looks gorgeous from Dimitri’s point of view. And he makes sure he edits it to fit his view, so anyone watching can share his love for crumbling historical sites.

Felix smiles and leans over to kiss him on the cheek. “You did some good work.”

“Thank you,” Dimitri whispers in return.

“But,” Felix starts to say, his voice growing low, “why aren’t you wearing your glasses?”

Dimitri whines and reaches slowly for his discarded frames at the edge of the desk. “I don’t need them all the time.”

“I don’t want you fucking up that eye anymore than it’s already fucked.”

Dimitri puts on his glasses with a pout and continues to edit, his shoulders slightly deflated.

“I say it because I care,” Felix says, falling back onto the mattress.

“Yes, my love.”

After minutes of Felix staring into nothingness, trying to count how many bumps there are in the popcorn ceiling above, Sylvain wakes up in a whine, clutching at the pillows Felix left behind.

“No fair,” he says, turning over with a pout. “You left me.”

Felix sits up and nods his head towards Dimitri.

Sylvain sighs. “Of course,” he says, slipping out of bed. “Well, I’m taking a shower. Care to join?”

Felix just flops back onto the mattress, lying on his side as he continues to stare at Dimitri working diligently on edits.

“Fine, I see how it is.”

There’s nothing but the sound of Dimitri clicking away on his computer and the muffled sound of the water running in the bathroom. Felix sighs, bored. He just wants to get out and explore. All this other shit is not his forte. Yeah, the faces Dimitri makes while editing are cute but…hell, he wants to get on with the road trip already, see some actual abandoned shit.

Sylvain’s out of the shower moments later, naked and running a towel through his hair. “Fe, grab some breakfast with me? Apparently free continental starts at 7.”

Okay, fine.

He rolls out of his blanket cocoon and grabs a t-shirt and a hoodie.

“I think they want you to wear clothes down there, Sylvain.”

Sylvain just smirks.

Of course he knows.

* * *

It’s a pretty bumpy drive through dirt roads and underbrush to get to the hospital. Dimitri glances back at Felix often enough to elicit a response.

“I’m fine! Stop checking on me!”

“Well, considering you spewed chunks at Arianrod, we can’t take any chances, can we?” Sylvain says, letting the car rumble through the thick woods.

Dimitri just rests his hand on Felix’s knee and squeezes. “Let us know if you need us to stop.”

Felix nearly kicks it away, resuming a mindless game on his phone under the protection of his hoodie.

“I’m not gonna puke!”

Dimitri takes Felix’s answer at face value and turns back, watching as thick branches roll over his truck’s windshield. He takes in a sharp breath, willing the glass to stay intact; and Sylvain thinks _he’s_ the reckless driver.

“Is it really this deep in the woods?”

Sylvain nods, his phone balancing in the cupholder between them. “Yup, this area became a ghost town after the hurricane hit. Hospital’s been abandoned since. There might even be some medical records inside.”

Dimitri’s eyes widen; that’s a good sign. The more artifacts, the more excited their viewers will get in the comments. Especially older records, but more recently abandoned locations spark similar interest, too, from people claiming they know someone who went to or worked at that location.

Their exploration of the old Fhirdiad School of Science & Medicine got that kind of response, especially the older parts of the building, rumored to have been a school of “sorcery” back in medieval times. Dimitri’s not too sure how reputable those claims are, but it’s enough of a rumor to drive in the views. It was their first video to reach one million views, and what helped to skyrocket their subscriber base. And that’s where the idea to hit one million subscribers came about. Sylvain was convinced they could do it. Felix didn’t really care. Dimitri was skeptical, at worst, but hopeful at best.

The trees begin to part and the white, concrete structure emerges. On the front of the building, above the main entrance, a few letters are missing from a sign that once read “Hevring General Hospital.”

“There it is, boys…” There’s a hint of awe in Sylvain’s voice as they grow closer and Felix’s head lunges forward from the back seat.

“Shit.”

It’s huge, not much bigger than the school of medicine, but considering this hospital is surrounded by nothing but trees, it looks enormous.

Sylvain keeps driving, eventually parking in a gathering of bushes that causes Felix to curse him out as he jumps out of the truck.

“Are you fucking serious? We need to get into the truck bed to grab our shit!”

“I don’t know how much security is on this place, I don’t want us getting caught.”

Dimitri steps out, ducking under a branch and biting his lip, concerned about the scratches all over his truck; Sylvain better pay for of any damage that’s been done, since he insists on driving throughout the whole of the trip.

“I’ll grab our stuff,” Dimitri says as the bickering from the other two gets louder. “If there are any security measures around this place, it’s your voices that will get us caught over the truck.”

Sylvain laughs with a nod and Felix scoffs, stomping to the back of the truck to help Dimitri unload some of their equipment.

“Sorry,” Felix mumbles, grabbing his camera and slinging a respirator around his neck, just in case.

Dimitri’s all fitted with his gear, as well as Sylvain, and they lock up the truck, heading for the hospital up ahead. Dimitri falls behind, lifting his camera for his first shot; Sylvain and Felix, their determined steps towards the boarded up front entrance, the wind blowing their hair along with the high grass at their ankles, and a song of birds echoing around them.

A perfect start to the Adrestia leg of their trip…

\---

Felix aims his camera high, zooming in on the sign above.

_H vring Gener l Hoital._

“That’s so fucking great,” he says, his feet crunching over fallen leaves and the scattered rocks and rubble that once marked the roadway where ambulances and other emergency vehicles once swerved down, ready to drop off the hospital’s next patients.

Sylvain snaps some still shots of the boarded glass doors, broken glass scattered in front of them with no way to enter. At least, not through the front.

“I’m going to check around the side,” Felix says, lowering his camera and darting around the building. It tends to be his job to get into buildings first, considering his size. It pissed him off at first, but after Dimitri got stuck — big oaf that he is — Felix agreed to be their way in.

They both nod and call out to Felix as he darts off and it isn’t long before he finds an emergency door, the sign rusted over, hanging off its hinges. “Good,” he says, darting back and motioning the two of them over. “This one’s easy!”

“No fucking kidding,” Sylvain says, stepping into the opening, careful not to scrape his shirt against the rust-coated door.

The gentleman that he is, Dimitri ushers Felix to go before him and Felix resists the urge to roll his eyes because this location is too cool to even bother to start a petty fight with one of his boyfriends. Sylvain’s research revealed it was only abandoned a few years ago, after a huge hurricane ripped through this part of Adrestia, leaving the Hevring province devastated. This wasn’t the only hospital to be left to the elements, but by far the largest and most significant.

Felix’s feet crunch over tile, a weird squelching sound underneath it. “What the fuck?”

“Probably from all the water that ran in,” Dimitri says, ducking low under fallen ceiling tiles and pipes.

“This place went to shit, alright.” Sylvain shines the light of his camera down the thin hall until they come across another door, barely open a crack. There’s light shining through it, which means it has to lead into the main concourse.

Felix runs, nearly knocking Sylvain aside; he wants to see it first, wants to see if there are any computers left, any sign of life left to the wayside. This is the kind of shit that gives him a thrill, the likes of which he hasn’t experienced since cross-country races back in high school, when the adrenaline was pumping so hard, it practically propelled him to the finish line.

His hunch is correct, about the hall leading to the main concourse, but he discovers that the front desk is barren as he steps around it, nothing but loose wires and an old computer mouse.

“Could have been the jackpot,” Sylvain says, stepping up to his side.

“Not every location has got computers left, I guess.”

Dimitri emerges from the emergency exit hall and his mouth drops open at the sight of the atrium above. “Look at that!”

Felix cranes his neck around the low ceiling above the check-in desk and sees how the stairs circle up, an odd metal-like fixture hanging beneath the broken skylights. “What the fuck kind of centerpiece is that?”

“You know Adrestians,” Sylvain says with that smirk he wears when he’s about to tell an awful joke.

“No I don’t,” Dimitri responds with lightning speed. “And please, don’t divulge.”

“Ouch.”

Dimitri just smirks, his camera focused on the fixture above. It’s definitely interesting, but not what Felix cares to film. He eyes the stairs; they’re in fairly good condition, and this place isn’t old enough to crumble beneath his feet, hurricane or not. More tile and glass crunch beneath his feet as he heads for the stairs.

\---

Sylvain’s leaning on the front desk console, a pout firm on his lips. “You seriously don’t want to hear it?”

Dimitri lowers his camera, his eyes following Felix as he walks up the stairs.

“Not at all, love.” He walks by and follows Felix up the stairs, but not before giving Sylvain a nice long kiss.

Okay. He gets a free pass for that. Sylvain smiles, reveling in the warmth left behind from Dimitri’s lips and follows suit; he knows the real cool shit is upstairs. Hospital beds, equipment, maybe some needles…

Maybe not that last thing; Sylvain feels his stomach jolt at the thought of bio-hazardous material being left in a place like this.

“See anything cool up there yet? Patient records?”

“No,” Felix calls back, “not yet.”

“But you can see the water line on the second floor.”

Shit. That’s fucking cool. And chilling all at once.

Sylvain rushes up the stairs and spots Dimitri practically crouching to get a shot of the water line, dark and murky along the bottom few inches of the wall. The paint down there is mostly chipped over the warped lower half of the wall.

“The water got that high? Fuck.”

Dimitri smiles, standing up and walking down the hall to follow behind Felix. “Didn’t you do the research?”

“I mean, yeah,” he said, getting a few still shots of the hallway. “But, I mean, I guess I never realized that the whole first floor was under water. That’s just wild.”

“It was a pretty intense storm, don’t you remember?”

“That’s right, we lost power when it crossed over Fhirdiad!”

Dimitri smiles and turns away before Sylvain can see the blush on his cheeks, but Sylvain knows why; he remembers that night well. The first year in their relationship; the three of them attempting sex by candle light. Hot. And fucking stupid. But that was all Felix’s fault.

“Got some equipment down here!” Felix is hanging outside a door further down the hall.

With a smile, Sylvain bolts down the hall. “What kind? MRI machine? Something cooler?”

Felix vaguely gestures to the room and walks away. “I don’t know, I’m looking for other shit.”

“You’re so helpful, Fe.”

The only response Sylvain gets is a middle finger in the air and the crunching of footsteps over broken tile. It isn’t that impressive of a room, and the equipment is…nothing, really. But he is thankful for the thought, at least.

Or whatever.

* * *

The rest of the explore runs pretty standard; all of the really interesting equipment and computers had been wiped clean of the place, most likely in an attempt to scrap or salvage what they could, and Felix never got to find any patient records.

It’s sunset when they return to the truck, still tucked under tree branches and crying — if trucks _could_ cry and Dimitri knows his is crying right now — from all the scratches it had to endure through Sylvain’s reckless driving. They pack up their cameras, seal the truck bed shut, and head back to the hotel. Dimitri needs the rest, and honestly, he hopes there’s a hot tub open on the grounds so he can rest and relax his neck.

They’re back at the hotel in under twenty minutes and Dimitri finds he’s too tired to even bother with a hot tub and flops onto the mattress face first instead.

“Dima, baby, you that tired?”

“It’s still early,” Felix says, kneeling beside him.

“Well,” Dimitri says, a guilty smile on his lips, “I was up early.”

“Shit, that’s right.” Felix rolls his eyes but lays beside Dimitri, brushing the hair out from his eyes. “You gonna be okay?”

Dimitri nods, taking Felix’s hand in his and kissing his knuckles. “Yes, my love, I will.”

Felix squirms, but doesn’t move from Dimitri’s hold; instead, he nuzzles in closer, slipping under his arm.

“Don’t I get any fun?” Sylvain nearly tips the bed over as he kneels onto the other side of the mattress, laying on the opposite side of Dimitri, rubbing the heel of his palm up Dimitri’s spine.

Dimitri purrs at the touch, his back arching into Sylvain’s massage; no hot tub needed when your boyfriend has hands like his. “A…little lower?”

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”

Dimitri just hums along as Sylvain continues to run his hands up and down his back. “Thank you, dear,” he says into the pillow, pulling Felix closer into his hold. After a long day of editing and filming, a little pampering is nice. Especially from Sylvain.

Sylvain works his hands down, rubbing the kinks out of Dimitri’s lower back and Dimitri curls into it.

“Yeah, lots of tension there,” Sylvain says, swinging his leg over to straddle Dimitri from behind. He continues to work and it hurts so good, Dimitri squeezes a little too tight around Felix.

“Ah, fuck!”

“S-sorry,” he says, unhooking his arm from around Felix, but Felix just brings it back.

“I didn’t say let go, just don’t…”

“Go easy on him, Fe,” Sylvain purrs, leaning forward as he presses his palms up Dimitri’s back to grab hold of his neck. “He’s had a long day.”

Felix just nuzzles back in, his complaints muffled against Dimitri’s side.

It isn’t long into Sylvain working the kinks out of Dimitri’s neck before he can feel a hard heat pressing into his back. He glances over his shoulder, spotting Sylvain’s smirk and a the flush across his cheeks. “Sylvain, you…”

“Shh, Dima baby, let me do my work. Don’t mind me,” he says, grinding his hard dick, confined in his pants, against Dimitri’s ass.

“If you’re gonna fuck him, then I’m getting in the shower now,” Felix says, peeling himself from Dimitri’s side and walking off towards the bathroom.

Sylvain laughs, continuing his massage with increased vigor. “He can’t cuddle with you when I’m fucking you, huh?”

Dimitri blushes, burying his face in the pillows as each hump from Sylvain makes his own groin throb with need. He knows how he gets with Sylvain; a wild mess of limbs, thrashing about. Felix definitely can’t cuddle with him during something like _that_.

But he definitely wants it, needs it, and he crushes the pillow up against his face as Sylvain’s breaths become more labored and he can feel the growing wetness at his backside.

Dimitri whines, awkwardly shuffling his hips into the mattress as he gets harder through Sylvain’s touch.

“You too, now?”

Dimitri nods, trying not to bite down on the pillow, but desperate for some way to release this pent up heat growing within him.

Sylvain’s hands move, continuing to massage down Dimitri’s back, until they grip the top of Dimitri’s pants, shifting them down to reveal his ass.

Dimitri hurriedly reaches down to unzip them, but Sylvain grabs his wrist before he can do much else. “Nothing more,” he says, his voice venomous. “You know I like making you cum with just my dick, right?”

Gasping against the pillow, Dimitri nods, returning his hands to grip the pillow. He swallows hard, more concerned for the housekeeping crew to clean up their mess.

Sylvain rests his hands at Dimitri’s waist, rubbing his dick along Dimitri’s bare ass. “Are you gonna be tight for me, babe?”

Dimitri clenches his ass just at the thought and nods; he wants to scream and yell and cry out already, but he knows how loud he can get and he’s unsure how many people have booked rooms at the hotel.

Sylvain continues to slowly grind down, the rough fabric of his jeans practically soaked from his dripping precum. But for as much as Sylvain likes to tease his lovers, he also has a bit of a masochistic streak, too; he likes to hold it out for as long as he can.

A hum of approval buzzes from Sylvain’s lips and he grinds down hard onto Dimitri’s ass, fingers slowly moving down to grip his cheeks. “Good,” he says, his voice husky and deep.

His fingers dig deep into the muscled tightness of Dimitri’s ass and Dimitri absently thinks how he should stop toning that area at the gym, make it more fun for Sylvain to grab during sex. Sylvain spreads Dimitri’s cheeks apart, his thumbs hovering beside Dimitri’s fluttering hole.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

Dimitri whines and looks back over his shoulder. “Could you please refrain from using that word?”

Laughing, Sylvain merely presses a thumb up against Dimitri’s rim, eliciting a high cry from his lover’s lips. Dimitri’s face is back in the pillow. He hates the sound of that word in bed, but he must admit it; he _does_ want Sylvain in him now.

“But you are,” Sylvain says, removing his hands just to unbutton his pants. He sighs once his dick is released and he runs his glistening head between Dimitri’s cheeks.

Dimitri’s eyes are closed tight and he lifts his head above the now spit soaked pillow to cry out. “A-ah!”

“Say it,” Sylvain says, rocking his hips slowly along Dimitri’s ass, his cock dripping precum in the dip between Dimitri’s cheeks.

It’s warm and wet and sends a shiver down Dimitri’s spine. He lifts his hips slightly off the mattress, his own erection screaming out to be touched, to be fucked but Sylvain pushes him back down, continuing his slow grind. “Come on, babe. Say it.”

Dimitri bites his lip. “F-fuck me, already!”

Sylvain’s laugh is low and rumbles within Dimitri’s chest. “I could cum all over your back like this, paint these muscles a nice pearly white, run my finger along it and have you suck it off my hand.”

Dimitri grips the pillow, the mere thought of Sylvain’s words rumbling in his groin; he would totally get off from just that, but he wants to be filled, he’s…

“F-feed me,” he says, his face hot as he turns his head back to face Sylvain. “I’m,” he swallows hard, “hungry.”

With a smirk, Sylvain smacks a cheek hard, continuing to rub his cock between them until Dimitri’s hole is soaked with precum. “That’s what I like to hear,” he says, leaning down to place a kiss over the imprint of his hand on Dimitri’s ass. He maneuvers off the bed, stripping off his pants and rummaging through his duffle bag until he presents a bright red bottle.

Of course he packed lube.

Sylvain reaches over to slip off Dimitri’s pants and kisses up his legs, inch by inch, before resuming his positing above him, dick hard upon his ass.

“I’ll feed you nice and good,” Sylvain says, pumping an obscene amount of lube onto his fingers. He slicks up his cock, jerking it enough to tilt his head back and cry out a soft moan and then he presses two fingers to Dimitri’s hole.

Dimitri shivers as they press in easily.

“Eating me right up.” Sylvain purrs as he casually starts to fuck Dimitri’s hole with his fingers.

Dimitri’s toes curl in the sheets and the wet lube starts to run warm against his ass and inside of him.

“Is…is that the…?”

“Yeah,” Sylvain says, his fingers squelching in and out of Dimitri. “The warming one.” His shoulders shudder and his cock twitches. “Feels so fucking good.”

Dimitri tries to voice his agreement, but there’s trickle of the lube that reaches deep inside of him, teasing at his prostate and his cock leaks onto the sheets below. He’s twitching, trying to hold back how much he wants to slam his ass down on Sylvain’s fist; just having the two fingers inside is torturous. He wants to be filled, be fucked hard and good; it’s the only thought on his mind.

“P-please,” he cries out, tears squeezing from his closed eyes. “Sylvain, I can’t.”

“I’ve got you, babe.” Sylvain slowly retracts his fingers and rocks his cock between Dimitri’s cheeks a few more times before he presses his head to Dimitri’s hole.

Dimitri braces himself, gripping the pillow tight and hoping he won’t rip it apart. Sylvain swirls his palms over Dimitri’s cheeks, massaging them with the remnants of the warming lube. It’s only supposed to be a slight sensation, but Dimitri’s hole feels like it’s on fire, filled with an empty heat. He whines against the pillow and bites his lip when Sylvain finally presses in.

“Aahhh, fuck, Dimitri, you feel so fucking good,” he moans out, just the tip inside. He rolls his hips without pushing in and Dimitri flinches back. “Patience,” Sylvain purrs.

Dimitri nods, his head spinning, his cock aching, his hole a burning mess. His toes and fingers have gone numb from the wait and he can hardly swallow down the lump in his throat; the anticipation is the worst.

And then, Sylvain presses in. Slow, but fully in.

Dimitri arches his back, choking out a moan and holding the pillow tight to his chest. “Y-yes! H-hah!”

“Fuuuuuuck!” Sylvain hilts himself into Dimitri, his chest heaving and his hands shaking against his lover’s hips.

Dimitri flutters around Sylvain’s dick, delights in how he can feel each throb and pulse as it sits inside him. He wants to grab his own cock, but he knows when Sylvain starts, it’ll only take a few thrusts before he’s completely undone.

A few heavy breaths fill the room and Sylvain presses a palm to the small of Dimitri’s back, pushing him back down, and he begins to rock.

Dimitri clenches around him, desperate to keep him inside; he wants to rock back along Sylvain’s dick, press it deep inside, but he’s limp to Sylvain’s touch. And he likes that just the same. He knows he could easily overpower Sylvain — he’s got the muscle to prove it — but he likes being dominated, to be tossed like a rag-doll. It looks so beautiful and effortless when either of them fuck Felix, his slender limbs writing atop the bed sheets, his chest heaving in shuddered breaths. It’s both a turn on and a source of envy for Dimitri; he wants to be undone just the same.

And luckily, Sylvain’s got just the dick for the job.

His cock is nearly completely out of Dimitri’s ass before he thrusts back in, nicking the edge of Dimitri’s prostate and causing him to cry out, the seams of the pillow screaming in response.

“Fuck, you’re so tight. Swallow me up, babe.” Sylvain continues to thrust, his body hot against Dimitri’s as it slaps against his ass.

With each thrust, he reaches deeper until Dimitri’s already shitty vision is completely faded, nothing but stars before him. His hips twitch, cock desperate for release and just like clockwork, when Sylvain grabs his ass and thrusts deeper, faster, Dimitri comes upon his stomach and the bed sheets below.

“A-ah…aaah! Sylvain!!”

His back is arched up and off the bed, completely knocking Sylvain’s hand out of the way, as his hips are continuously brought down over and over again on Sylvain’s dick.

Sylvain’s rhythm is growing erratic, each thrust more shallow than the last. Within moments, he reaches his climax, spilling into Dimitri as he cries out.

“A-ah!!”

Dimitri shivers at the warmth trickling into him, each burst a flash of extra pleasure, ready to rise his cock back to attention.

Sylvain collapses onto his back, the heat of his breath trickling into Dimitri’s ear. He shudders, but lets Sylvain take him in his arms, the two of them regaining their breaths, regaining some semblance of normalcy with their heart beats. Sylvain attempts a kiss to Dimitri’s ear, but it’s wet and messy; Dimitri doesn’t seem to care.

After moments of the two of them lying there, nothing but sweat and spend covering them, Felix steps out of the shower, wiping droplets of water out of his hair with his towel. “Are you two done?” He plops onto the other bed, staring at the pair incredulously.

Dimitri turns his head, a guilty smile on his lips. “Y-yes, I think so.”

Sylvain’s face is still planted against Dimitri’s back, his hand jutting out with a thumb up.

“Well, the shower’s free, so…”

Felix leans back against the headboard of the bed, his phone in front if his face as he checks on the cats, plays a game, or whatever he’s doing.

“How about you go first, babe,” Sylvain says, rolling off him. “I’ll take care of the bed sheets.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it's not obvious, I picked Hevring for a hospital based on Linhardt being a healer. I watch a lot of "The Proper People" on youtube and they have some pretty neat explores of more modern hospitals. One in particular that inspired the location in this chapter is a hospital in Daytona Beach, FL (USA), which also got devastated by a hurricane a few years ago. It's not as secluded as the one I wrote in this chapter, but still. Pretty neat.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got some hotel shenanigans in this chapter! If you'd like to skip the sex scene in here (3 chapters in a row, go me, lol), it starts at “Sylvain hums with approval…” and ends with “Just another day.”
> 
> Enjoy!

Felix wakes up to overwhelming heat, centered at his back and his face, for some reason. As his eyes flutter open, he sees it’s due to his obnoxiously large and heat-producing boyfriends; Dimitri is spooning him from behind, and Sylvain is pressing Felix’s head to his chest.

He groans, knowing the three of them can barely fit on the queen sized mattress together; they must be holding onto him quite tightly.

“Can one of you…get off?” he manages to mumble as Dimitri holds him tighter in response.

“But babe, we’re so cozy!” Sylvain kisses him atop his head and continues to smother Felix’s face in the bright red curls on his chest.

With one nudge from Felix’s elbow, Sylvain rolls off the bed, landing on the ground with a thud.

“Ow, Fe, what the fuck?”

Felix smiles as he cranes his neck to spot Sylvain, naked and sprawled upon the questionably clean hotel room floor.

“Morning,” he says back, his smile slick.

“What’s…going on?” Dimitri yawns against Felix’s back, pulling him even closer than before, if that were at all possible.

“Sylvain’s being an ass.”

Sylvain raises a brow from his spot on the floor. “How is…you know what? Whatever. I’m getting some cheap off-brand cereal at the free continental breakfast. You two can enjoy yourselves or whatever.”

He stands up and pauses, looking at the two of them and giving a wink. “At least, don’t do anything _too_ fun while I’m gone.”

Felix rolls his eyes as Sylvain starts getting minimally dressed, reaching towards the nightstand for his phone. Dimitri grabs his wrist.

“The cats are fine,” he says into his ear, slightly slurred. “Let’s just stay here a little while longer.”

Felix smirks, turned over to look at Dimitri’s sleep laden face. He kisses him softly on nose, brushing back a few strands of his hair. “Do you need any help packing up your computer shit?”

Dimitri pauses and sits up, rubbing his temples with his fingers. “Right. The computer.”

“We’ve got another day long drive today, boys,” Sylvain says, grabbing one of the hotel room key cards. “Either of you coming down?”

Dimitri slumps out of bed and trudges over to the desk. “I’m going to edit a bit more before we have to leave. Grab something for me?”

Felix sighs and leaves his phone at the bedside table. “Sure,” he says, joining Sylvain.

Another long day.

Fucking great.

* * *

“It’s another historical site, we’re doing it for Dimitri.”

“Ugh,” Felix groans. It’s been hours and the back country of Adrestia is even more dull than that of Faerghus; low, dry mountains and random swathes of desert. He can’t stand the driving part of this road trip and he forgot to charge his phone back at the hotel, so now it’s dead, sitting useless in his hoodie pocket.

Dimitri’s at the wheel now — Sylvain only allows it since the highway they’re on is mostly used by truckers — speeding down the down with the sun low in the sky behind them.

“Plus,” Sylvain adds, a foot propped on the dashboard, “we need get a hotel in Merceus for the night, anyway. We’ll stop by the fortress in the morning on the way down to Enbarr.”

“And there’s a lot to see in Enbarr,” Dimitri adds with a smile. “How many days do we have planned there?”

Sylvain shrugs. “I mean, there’s the row houses. Is the Opera House still abandoned? I thought they were able to fix it back up and turn it into a movie theatre or something.” He’s playing a game on his phone, poorly by the looks of it. Felix wants to snatch it out of his hands, but that’s a fight he doesn’t want to lose, not with hours of a car trip still ahead of them.

Dimitri laughs. “You’re supposed to be the one doing the research.”

“Yeah, I know, I know…”

“And you said we would spend at least three nights in Enbarr!”

“Three nights?!” Felix nearly kicks the back of Sylvain’s seat. “I didn’t know that!”

Sylvain smiles sheepishly or gives a poor imitation of one; he knows what he’s doing. “Hey, I figured that would give us enough time to explore the city, find some other shit to explore. Maybe even take a night off to party.”

“Party?”

Dimitri shakes his head. “Sylvain says the club scene in Enbarr is something else. I’ll probably stay in that night.”

“Oh no you won’t!” Sylvain lunges at Dimitri, nearly causing the blond to swerve off the road. “You will come with us to get drunk and dance to bad music…”

“HEY!”

“…and have a wonderful evening with your boyfriends, fucking mercilessly into the night in a swanky hotel room.”

Dimitri looks to him, peering over his glasses; Felix wouldn’t let him drive without them, idiot that he is. “Why does is always have to be merciless fucking with you? Can’t we have a nice romantic evening, just the three of us?”

Felix blushes at the thought. He knows what’s on Dimitri’s mind; candles, rose petals on the bed, cheesy 80s love ballads playing softly in the background. The kind of shit that Sylvain wants to film, no matter how many times Felix and Dimitri tell him that a sex tape is a bad idea. Their subscribers don’t even know the three of them are dating. And Felix wants it to stay that way.

“You’re cute, Dima,” Sylvain says, sneaking in a kiss to his cheek before resuming his game.

“We should go out to dinner one night.” Dimitri’s eyes are back on the road. “If we’re going to spend that much time in Enbarr, we should check out the restaurant scene, too. El tells me about it all the time.”

“Oh shit, your sister! We should stop by and see her while we’re there.”

Dimitri laughs, shaking his head. “I told you, already, she’s on vacation in Brigid with her girlfriend. They won’t be back until long after we’re gone.”

“Ah, that’s right, Dorothea.” There’s a lilt in Sylvain’s voice as he says her name. “Your sister is lucky to have a woman like that in her life.”

Felix does kick the back of his seat this time. “Don’t make her manifest just to beat you up.”

Sylvain laughs and leans his seat back, nearly crushing Felix’s legs before he ducks out of the way. “That would be hot. I’d love for her to beat me senseless.”

“It’s not like it hasn’t almost happened before,” Dimitri muses.

“Because your sister won’t let her.”

“If you talk about her anymore, I’ll steal your phone for the rest of the car trip.”

Sylvain smirks. “I’d like to see you try, Fe.”

* * *

It’s another dumpy hotel like the one in Gaspard. Shitty water pressure in the shower, rug stained with Goddess knows what, and two small beds which means it’s another night where Sylvain won’t be able to cuddle with Dimitri.

“When are you going to get us a good hotel?” Felix complains, throwing his duffle bag onto one of the beds.

“When these towns start _offering_ good hotels. It’s not my fault most of Adrestia is a shit hole.”

“It’s not a shithole, Sylvain,” Dimitri says, lugging in his computer gear.

“You’re not gonna edit tonight, are you?”

Dimitri looks to him, blinking slowly. “Yes?”

Sylvain groans, throwing himself to the far bed. “Dima, baby, come on!!”

“That’s a lot to set up for one night,” Felix says, plugging in his phone. “And you’ve been driving all day. You need to rest.”

“But,” Dimitri says, holding out his phone, “we have over seven hundred thousand subscribers now.”

Sylvain practically trips over himself to see the proof on Dimitri’s phone; he hasn’t checked the channel since they left Fhirdiad. He’s been tempted, but Dimitri is their numbers guy; better leave it to him.

Regardless, there’s a giddy energy that rises within him and he runs to the small desk, knocking everything over as if he’s ready to bend Dimitri over it to fuck him senseless. “Time to start setting up, baby.”

“That’s the plan,” Dimitri laughs back, and Sylvain can see the attempted eye roll he gives him.

Dimitri starts his set up and Sylvain lays on his bed, staring as Felix throws on a new pair of sweat pants and settles under the covers, hood up.

“Don’t you wanna snuggle with me tonight, Fe?”

Felix grumbles in response, contorting in such a way that his phone can still charge while he hides under the blankets.

“Did I piss him off that badly?”

Dimitri shrugs, running his extension chord around the desk. “It’s just Felix, Sylvain. You know how he gets.”

Sylvain stares in silence, his eyes darting between Felix in the other bed and Dimitri piling computer gear on the table and plugging wires and shit in. He sighs, knowing Dimitri is right; sometimes, all it takes is one word to set Felix off. Though with the long car trip and the shitty hotel, Sylvain has an inkling why he might be in his current state.

Sylvain slips off his bed and cuddles up next to Felix, on top of the covers to close him off.

There’s a response other than some muffled complaints and scoffs, but Sylvain wraps his arms around the Felix sized lump in the bed.

“Hey, I know you’re upset…”

“Fuck off,” he hears from Felix, loud and clear.

“But I promise I’ll get us a nice King suite in Enbarr…”

This sentence catches Dimitri’s ear, his eyes growing a little wider at the promise of a swanky hotel suite in Enbarr.

“And we’ll get super drunk and have lots of sex, and there won’t be any problem about getting all cuddled up together because the bed will be huge.”

There’s some rustling under the sheets and Felix pokes his head out of his blanket cocoon. “Promise?”

“Want me to book it now?”

Felix sits up, narrowing his eyes at Sylvain. “I want to see receipts.”

“Damn,” Sylvain says, laughing on his way to his phone.

“Are you sure we can afford a King suite in Enbarr?” Dimitri’s voice low, tentative and Sylvain knows he’s skeptical about their expenses.

“Babe, you were the one who said we just broke seven hundred thousand subscribers. So think of it as our celebratory treat!”

Felix sits cross legged on the other bed, his arms crossed at this chest. “Less talking more booking, Gautier. And I wanna see pictures first!”

“Yes, dear,” he says with a nod, typing Enbarr hotels in his browser search bar.

It’s not long before Felix is hovering over his shoulder, amber eyes scanning and judging every hotel that shows up on the feed.

“There!” He points to a hotel link labeled _Enbarr Imperial Suites_.

Sylvain swallows hard when he sees the price per night. He looks back into Felix’s eyes, practically sparkling as he stares at the luxurious image of the king bed on the ad. He clicks the link and finds an available suite for the next three nights.

And Felix is supposed to be the low maintenance one in their relationship.

Bullshit.

“Booked,” he says, letting his credit card information autofill and waiting for the loading page to say _Confirmed_.

Once it does, Felix attacks his mouth with a hungry kiss until Sylvain nearly falls off the bed.

“Okay, okay, calm down, Fe,” he says, laughing as he’s licking up the excess spit on his lips. “Didn’t know you wanted a swanky hotel room that bad.”

“After this shit? Yeah,” he bites back, diving in once more, biting and nipping at Sylvain’s lips.

Sylvain hums with approval, letting Felix take control as he straddles Sylvain’s legs. If this is how he’s acting after booking the hotel, Sylvain can’t wait to see what does to him once they get _in_ the room.

Closing his eyes, Sylvain lets his hands slip past the waist band of Felix’s sweatpants and grabs the soft curves of his ass, hovering his hands over the flesh before he squeezes. A whimper escapes Felix’s mouth and he pulls back, staring down at Sylvain with kiss-bitten lips, heavy-lidded eyes, and a fully flushed face; all of this is framed by inky strands hair, fallen loose from his hair tie, a few of them sticking to the light sheen of sweat on his brow.

“What do you want, babe?”

“That massage you gave Dimitri yesterday.”

Dimitri coughs at the desk and turns back, his cheeks pink. “H-hey…”

Sylvain smiles, gently rolling his palms along Felix’s ass, tapping his fingers along the way. “Yeah?”

Felix nods, biting his lip. “I watched.” His voice is caught in his throat, his eyes not quite meeting Sylvain’s. “I…went back into the bathroom to…”

“Unf, babe, that’s hot,” Sylvain says, grabbing a fist full of ass as Felix yelps. “Touching yourself to Dima and me fucking?”

Felix closes his eyes and nods before he buries his face into Sylvain’s shoulder.

“You could have asked to join?” Sylvain whispers into Felix’s ear, his lips just brushing along the shell of it. “Or, you know, enjoyed the whole show.”

Felix whines; it’s low and guttural and the way he squirms atop Sylvain, his erection is hard to ignore. Sylvain tries not to think too much about it. Felix has always been like this, more embarrassed about his turn-ons than Dimitri, but even more willing to give in to them.

Sylvain lowers his hands, rubbing circles along Felix’s ass cheeks until his fingers brush over his hole.

Felix shudders, grinding down into Sylvain.

“You know, it’s going to be hard massaging you like this,” Sylvain says, leaning his head back. “What would you like to do?” He smirks and squeezes Felix’s ass once more until the smaller man is sitting up right, his face flushed red. “Want to ride me?”

Felix’s eyes widen as they dart down towards his groin; he’s hard and there’s a small wet patch growing at the front of his sweat pants.

How Sylvain isn’t hard yet is a mystery, but he doesn’t think much on it; he’s happy to spoil his lover with pleasure, even with nothing in return. Honestly, the way Felix squirms and writhes under his touch is enough of a treat.

Sylvain keeps one hand firm on Felix’s ass while the other moves to the front, still under the waist band of Felix’s pants. He lets his fingers ghost over Felix’s cock and watches with delight as Felix shudders.

“That good? Tell me what you need.”

Felix bites his lip; he’ll stay quiet for as long as he can, but that doesn’t stop his hips from jutting forward into Sylvain’s touch.

Dimitri sits at the desk, his computer now fully set up. He has his headphones tight over his ears; Sylvain knows hearing this will drive him mad, so it’s best to keep him distracted with editing (he’s still working on the Arianrod video?).

Sylvain slips his fingers beneath Felix’s balls, and Felix cries out, nearly folding over and falling over onto Sylvain’s chest once more. He manages to stay up, though, bracing himself and setting his palms to rest against Sylvain’s thighs.

It’s that sight that gets a pulse running through Sylvain’s groin; Felix could be riding him at any moment braced like that. He swallows hard and tries to focus on Felix, slipping his fingers up, delicately dancing up his length, before teasing the slit of his cockhead, already spilling with precum.

He grabs hold of Felix’s dick, swirling his thumb at the head, covering it the warm fluid, before moving low to grip the base.

Felix’s breathing has become erratic and he pulls at his hoodie, desperate to get it off.

“Now now, babe,” Sylvain coos, keeping his hand steady while the other continues to palm one of Felix’s cheeks. “We’ll make this quick, okay? Gotta get up early to head into Enbarr, right?”

Felix nods, moving his shaking hand back to grip one of Sylvain’s thighs.

“We’ll have so much time to fuck and play in Enbarr. You saw the size of those beds, right?”

He nods again, closing his eyes tight. “Y-yeah.”

“What do you want to do in that big bed, Fe?”

A whine slips past Felix’s thinly shut lips. He’s jutting his hips forward, urging Sylvain to do something. Eventually, he swallows.

“F-fuck…”

“You’ve gotta give me more details than that, babe.”

“Can you just…f-fucking jerk me off already?!”

Sylvain laughs. Felix has definitely hit his limit; there are tears in the corners of his eyes, a piercing amber to match the scowl on his face. Sylvain can stop his teasing for now. He plans on more of it in Enbarr, anyway.

“Of course, darling,” he purrs, and begins to pump his hand along Felix’s shaft.

Felix immediately tosses his head back, his fingernails nearly digging through the fabric of Sylvain’s pants as his pleasure ebbs closer to the edge.

He rocks meekly into Sylvain’s hand, grunts and moans puffing out from his lips, barely audible over the sound of his breathing. His cock continues to drip, making Sylvain’s work on his dick easy. Or maybe not, as his hand nearly slips off Felix’s dick, despite the fact that his pants are still on.

“M-more,” Felix cries out. “Faster, f-fuck.”

Sylvain narrows his eyes, the sound of Felix’s voice slipping into his ear, a spark making its way down to his groin. He’s never been this determined to not get hard, but Felix deserves this.

Or does he? He’s been a total fuck the length of the trip so far.

To be fair, he deserves _just_ this. Nothing more. Because he’s definitely in a position to get fucked and Sylvain won’t give him that much.

That’s right. Fuck his need to be filled, even if it curbs Sylvain’s pleasure. This little bitch can fucking wait to get fully fucked.

“I didn’t hear a please.”

“Asshole!” Felix yells, his voice catching on a moan as it cracks on a syllable. “Are you Dimitri now?”

Sylvain laughs as Dimitri’s head moves at the sound of his name. “I don’t have to be Dimitri to appreciate manners.”

“Please! Fucking, hngg!!” Felix gives in as Sylvain picks up his rhythm, squeezing tight then loosening his grip, ghosting a finger over the head, and watching as Felix unravels above him.

In just a few more jerks, Felix’s starts to shiver, his hands slip off Sylvain’s thigh and he comes hard in Sylvain’s hand.

“A-aaah!”

Sylvain sees him through his climax, his hand milking him dry until Felix collapses on top of him, sweaty and exhausted. With a smile, Sylvain places a kiss on Felix’s temple, leaving his hand, covered in spend, on Felix’s dick while the other continues to rub and massage his ass.

That should be enough for the night.

“Hey, Fe,” he whispers after he can feel Felix’s heartbeat return to a normal tempo. “Need any help cleaning up?”

Felix groans, curling up on Sylvain’s chest. “I’ll…take care of it.” He begrudgingly slips out of Sylvain’s hold and waddles over to the bathroom. Sylvain laughs, staring at his hand, sticky and slick from their little act on the bed.

Just another day.

* * *

Sylvain is serious when he says he wants to get on the road early. Dimitri got maybe a grand total of two hours of sleep; long after Sylvain and Felix curled together on the bed behind him, Dimitri was determined to edit and post their Arianrod video, as well as another vlog to get more traction on the channel.

He’s lying in the opposite bed, far too small for him, in a puddle of his own drool when Sylvain slaps his ass.

“Wake up, babe,” he says, too bright and cheery for this hour of the morning. “Let’s get on the road!”

Dimitri groans, turning over and staring at his computer set up, still on the desk. It’s gonna take some time to get that taken care of. “What…time is it?”

“Quarter to eight.”

“What? Why so early?”

“Don’t you want to check out the city? Go out for dinner and shit?”

Dimitri sighs and sits up. Felix is ready to go, or at least as ready as he’ll ever be in a new set of sweatpants and a different hoodie; how many did he pack? “Don’t we have three nights?”

“Well, yeah, but I figured tomorrow night could be for partying, and we’re gonna need a recovery day.”

Dimitri tries not to think about his last hangover and he gets out of bed. “Can you give me some time to get the computer packed up?”

“You got it, babe. Fe, come chill in the car with me.”

Felix groans, his eyes on his phone; the way his fingers are moving tells Dimitri he’s texting someone: Annette? Or perhaps Glenn. His stomach lurches at the thought of his situation and he briefly wonders if he should send him a text, too.

“How’s the apartment?” Dimitri slides past Felix, keeping his hand on his waist a little too long — he can’t help it, he slept alone last night — and starts dismantling his computer set up.

“It’s fine. Mercedes cleaned it, apparently.”

“She better not have messed anything up,” Sylvain says, his voice a little too curt.

“Sorry that someone else likes to clean, too, Sylvain,” Felix says with an eye roll.

“Look, I take good care of that place, I don’t need…”

Their voices trail off as the door shuts them out of the room. Dimitri sighs; the numbers on the channel are going up steadily and he made sure to post enough good content before the trip began to ensure they would get more subscribers. But he can’t deny that the pressure of their stupidly ambitious goal has been scratching at the back of his mind. It’s why he brought all this gear, to post while they were away. Can’t keep their followers waiting for _too_ long.

He sighs; three nights in Enbarr will be nice.

Eventually, he gets his things all packed, including clothes and he scans the room one last time before heading out.

“You can check out, Sylvain, we’re all good,” he says, calling out to his lovers across the parking lot, waiting at the truck.

“Already done, babe! Just get your shit in and let’s get on the road! Still gotta explore Merceus, right?”

Dimitri nods, trying not to think of even more footage to go through during this trip; he did this to himself, honestly. Let his anxiety get the best of him. The promise of a king size bed and three nights tangled with Sylvain and Felix should be enough to set him at ease.

He slides into the passenger side seat after he packs his things in the truck bed and locks it up. “How far are we from the fort?”

Sylvain looks at his phone, the truck’s engine already rumbling beneath them. “Twenty minutes or so. And it’s on the way, so that’s a plus.”

“Good.” Maybe Dimitri can sneak a short nap in before the explore…

…which he does, sooner than he thought. The next moment he opens his eyes, Sylvain is shaking him. “Babe, wake up, we’re here!”

Dimitri jostles in the seat, a fresh dribble of drool on his lips.

Sylvain smiles and wipes it off with his thumb. “Goddess, you’re cute.”

“Stop,” Dimitri says, smacking his hand out of the way before stepping out of the truck.

The moment he turns his head, the exhaustion deep in his bones ebbs away. The disc of the impact crater is wide, stretched too far to see with his eyes at this close of a distance. At the edges are crumbling towers and buildings, more stone than structure after being left to the elements for centuries on end.

He remembers when he first heard of this place; a smoldering rubble at the time the meteor hit, some time after the reunification of Fódlan under Adrestian control. There were hardly any records, other than: one day, Merceus was an ironclad fortress city, protecting the Empire at the time from any and all enemies. The next day, it was gone.

A camera is shoved into his hands as his body moves forward on reflex, enraptured by the sight before him.

“Cool, huh?”

“It’s…better than I could have imagined.” He’s seen pictures online, of course, but nothing could do it justice. The remains of Fort Merceus were breathtaking.

“It’s a crater,” Felix scoffs, the lens cap still on his camera.

Dimitri turns his on and uncaps the lens, walking forward; this is the kind of location where he wishes they had a drone. It would be the only way to fully capture the spine tingling mystery of this place.

“He’s not going to respond to you, Fe.”

Dimitri scans the border of the crater, not yet daring to step in. Unlike Arianrod, there’s little left of Merceus to protect in terms of historical significance. There had been attempts to rebuild it over the years, especially when the continent fell back into three sovereign territories, but all attempts failed. Dimitri’s thankful, honestly. Why rebuild around such an impressive crater?

“So, when did the meteor hit this place?”

“Eight hundred years ago,” Dimitri responds, scanning over the area. He turns his head to Sylvain and smirks. “You’re a terrible researcher.”

Sylvain laughs, one foot up at the edge of the crater as he takes a similar shot to Dimitri. “I step back when it comes to places like this. I know you’ve already got a wealth of knowledge on these ancient relics.”

Dimitri smiles and continues to film. He has to remind himself to breathe as he steps into the crater. It’ll take some time to make it to the center, but he wants to scan from there; it’s a shot that’s been on his mind for years.

“Dimitri,” Sylvain calls from the edges of the crater, but he doesn’t turn, just keeps walking. It seems to take forever, but with each step he can feel his smile widen. Once he gets to the center, there’s a dark mark on the flattened stone, as if a bolt of lightning marked the exact place of the impact. He zooms in, slowly, then takes his spot at the center.

Looking out, he’s in awe. He can only imagine the grand city that once stood here and how it was reduced to a smoldering pile of ash outside the pristine, flat markings of impact. He aims his camera and starts a slow spin. _This_ will make an awesome shot to open the video.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I understand the whole "light in the sky destroying Merceus" thing only really happens in VW & SS routes, I still liked that image and wanted it in my fic anyway. So let's pretend that it happens post CF when Edelgard & the Bleagles destroy TWSITD post-war.
> 
> Anyway, it leaves for a cool exploration that momentarily snaps our poor Dimitri out of his sleep deprived state. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Enbarr!
> 
> Sex scene ahoy! It begins at “You know what? Good plan.” and lasts through the end of the chapter.
> 
> Also, the cameos start in this chapter! Enjoy~

The city of Enbarr is blindingly bright at sunset. Felix didn’t pack sunglasses and the only two pairs in the truck have been claimed by Sylvain & Dimitri; Sylvain, who obviously needs them for driving, and Dimitri who’s vision is shitty anyway so he has to protect them from UV damage. He tries to block the sun by flipping up his hoodie, but it’s stupidly hot in the city even though it’s the middle of _autumn_.

The city is filled with towering terra-cotta columns of historical buildings, skyscrapers and high rises that reflect every ray of sun, and swarms of people in every direction. Not at all like modest Fhirdiad, their home city up north.

Once they make it to the hotel in the center of the city, Felix is blinded once more by the extravagance of the lobby. There’s a man playing fancy jazz music on a grand piano, surrounded by glass panes that serve no purpose other than aesthetic. There’s a koi pond — a fucking koi pond — that reflects the lights from the enormous chandeliers that Felix has a hard time counting because the walls also just so happen to be covered in mirrors. For some reason.

The pond winds around the piano and glass panes and there’s a small bridge that leads the three of them over the water towards the front desk.

“Sylvain, how much did this room cost?” Dimitri keeps his voice low, but Felix can hear his anxiety well up.

“Babe, don’t worry. I told you, we’re celebrating. It’ll be fine. Just,” he smiles, but it’s definitely a struggle, “don’t look at the bill.”

Felix remembers seeing the price on the phone as Sylvain booked the room; he makes a silent promise never to tell Dimitri. It’s for the best.

Sylvain takes control at the front desk, the clerk looking exceptionally well dressed; three piece suit, modest yet class ties. Felix rolls his eyes, pitying the guy for having to put that much effort in just dressing for work.

“Checking in?”

“Yes,” Sylvain says, and Felix cringes as he hears the wink in his voice. “Should be under the name Gautier? Three nights.”

Felix stays back with Dimitri who is filled to the brim with nerves, his hands folded in front of him. “Don’t worry,” he says, nudging the larger man. “It’s just three nights. We’ll be back in a crack den before you know it.”

Dimitri laughs, tension easing from his shoulders, and Felix smiles.

Sylvain finishes up, presenting them each with a key card as a bus boy follows him with a gold gilded luggage cart. “Room 905,” he says. “I’ll go get our shit from the truck with Jeeves here.”

“Ah, it’s Ignatz, sir.”

“Right. You two head up, test the bed for us. Just…don’t open the mini-bar, okay?”

“Are you sure you don’t need our help?” Dimitri tentatively takes a key card, but Sylvain just flashes him that stupid smiles and leads the hotel employee towards the parking garage.

“It’s all good, Dima.”

“Come on.” Felix grabs Dimitri by the wrist and leads him to the elevators. Once they’re in, Felix realizes their room is on the top floor. The price makes even more sense to him.

“Is it…really okay? That we book such an extravagant room? I mean, that’s the money we made through the channel, I would feel badly using those funds for such a…”

“Dimitri,” Felix says, trying to control his temper. “It’s our job. It’s fine. We’re not a charity case, the money we make is from ad revenue. Besides, this is also a bit of a vacation for us. So just enjoy it, okay?”

Dimitri looks over, his expression still uneasy.

Shaking his head, Felix pushes himself on his toes and kisses Dimitri; almost instantly, his lover’s nerves relax and his arms wrap reflexively around Felix’s waist.

“Besides,” Felix says, parting only to get a breath, “you deserve this. We all deserve this. Enjoy a few nights in a fancy hotel suite with your boyfriends, okay?”

Dimitri just nods, leaning in for another kiss.

Before Felix can truly indulge in the warmth of Dimitri’s mouth, the elevator dings and they’re upon the ninth floor. The moment the doors open, Felix feels he has to brace himself for another overtly luxurious sight. Honestly, it’s just a normal hotel hallway, but the rug seems to have gold threaded into it as it shimmers in the light. They step out holding hands, dazed by the small details that spew, “over our price range.”

Felix can hear Dimitri’s hard swallow as they step onto the carpet and the door closes behind them.

“We saw a horror movie like this once,” is the only thing that manages to leave Dimitri’s voice in a hushed whisper.

Felix tries not to laugh or yell, so he just tugs at Dimitri’s wrist to pull him further ahead. “Come on, Sylvain said room 905.”

It’s not long before they find their room around the corner and Felix taps the key card over the doorknob. Once the door opens, they both gasp.

Keeping the price of the room a secret from Dimitri is a joke at this point; it’s obvious how expensive the place is once they walk in.

The room is luxuriously spacious, with a thick plane of glass splitting it in two down the middle. To their right is the bed; large, circular, covered in plush pillows and lamps that probably have a ton of dimmer settings. To the left, on the opposite side of the aesthetic red and gold designs etched into the glass, is a living space. There’s a fire place seemingly floating in the center of the space, with the largest television screen Felix has ever seen propped on the white brick above it. There’s a couch, a love seat, and an arm chair, all the same color of deep red with bright gold accents stitched into the fabric.

Felix swallows hard when he sees not a mini-fridge on the opposite side of the fireplace, but a fully stocked bar. With bar stools.

“What the fuck?!”

Dimitri walks over and taps the plastic sign on the bar counter. “It says everything is locked unless we order the bar service.”

“Yeah, we’re not doing that,” Felix says in a rush.

Dimitri nods, his eyes glazed over, as he walks over to the opposite side of the room, nothing but wall to wall glass overlooking the city below.

“Felix, this view…”

Felix joins Dimitri at his side, mouth agape at the city lights of Enbarr flickering on as the sky darkens above it.

“Holy shit,” he says as his breath fogs up the glass. The Imperial Palace, now nothing more than a museum, sits at the center of their view, framed by other historical buildings and modern high-rises. There appears to be glinting gold in every direction.

“Damn, this room is nice,” Sylvain says as he busts the door open.

The bus boy, Ignatz, reels in their luggage, and stops it before the bed. “Have a good evening, gentlemen.”

“Hey, thanks, Iggy,” Sylvain says, slapping a twenty in his palm. “And thanks for the art museum recommendations!”

The bus boy bows his head curtly, a smile welling on his face, and leaves the three of them to their room.

“Fuck, have you two seen the bathroom yet?”

Dimitri shakes his head, still looking out at the city below. “No, too busy.”

Felix turns around and joins Sylvain; he honestly was too shocked to notice there even _was_ a bathroom in the suite, but right beside the door, it sits. And it is huge.

“What the fuck?!”

There’s a circular tub, covered in jacuzzi jets, a separate shower that can definitely fit the three of them, and a toilet with a built in bidet beside a double vanity. The mirror is lined with gold details and…

“Why is there a chandelier in the bathroom?”

Sylvain shrugs, eying the tub. “I don’t think it can count as a chandelier, but it’s nice.” He steps out and grabs his duffle bag from the luggage cart. “So dinner, right?”

“Oh, yes!” Sylvain’s words finally catch Dimitri’s attention, his eyes peeling away from the view of the city. “I texted El earlier and she gave me some good recommendations.”

Sylvain pulls an ugly-patterned button-down shirt from his bag and a pair of sleek black slacks. He smiles and shoots a wink towards Felix. “Anything with lots of meat for our carnivore over here?”

Felix groans and watches as Dimitri pulls his bag from the cart, bringing it to the bench along the glass partition and pulling out a white top and a pair of dress slacks. Felix’s stomach ties into knots; dinner, at a nice restaurant, and they both brought nice clothes. Sylvain walks over to grab Dimitri’s top, finding the pull down ironing board in the room’s closet (also huge).

“Shit,” Felix chokes out, trying to think about what he packed: hoodies, sweatpants, underwear. That’s it. That’s all he can think of.

“Felix, are you alright?” Dimitri steps beside him, a hand on his shoulder. “Do you not feel well?”

“No, I…” His eyes are darting around the obnoxiously decorated room; how did they even let him in the building with the way he’s dressed? He bites his lip, but doesn’t move.

Sylvain laughs. “He’s fine.”

“No, I’m not! You two didn’t tell me that…”

“I packed some shit for you in case we needed to be presentable to the public, you bum,” Sylvain says, gliding the iron across his shirt. “Oh, all wrinkles gone in one swift motion. I like this iron.”

“You…what?”

“Dimitri, be a doll and get Felix’s clothes out of my bag,” Sylvain says with a wink.

Dimitri smiles and rubs his hand over Felix’s back before following Sylvain’s words. After rummaging through the bag, he pulls out a plain black tee shirt and a pair of dark jeans; yes, those are Felix’s best clothes.

“See?” Dimitri places them on the bed gingerly and kisses Felix on the cheek before walking into the bathroom. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I also packed something sexy for you. Ya know, for when we go clubbing later.”

Felix plops onto the bed and starts to tear off his clothes. “Shut up,” he spits, but deep inside, he’s thankful for them. Because Felix knows he can be a little hopeless sometimes.

* * *

Enbarr is stunning. There’s life on the streets and almost every building is full of lights and music. Sylvain can’t get enough of it. Walking through the city streets is invigorating. If it weren’t for the sweltering heat during the summers, he would consider leaving Fhirdiad and getting a swanky apartment with his lovers here. But the summers suck. Even tonight, what he would normally experience as a chilly late autumn day up north, is brisk and inviting down in Enbarr. No jacket necessary.

Felix is huffing behind him with Dimitri trying to ease the tension from earlier. They’re a little uncomfortable about the room, but Felix was the one who chose it, not Sylvain. So he smirks, knowing he’s not to blame, even if he did cater the search results to only give him the most luxurious rooms in the city. Not his fault. Felix’s choice.

They’re only a few blocks away from the restaurant when they turn the corner to spot the old Opera House. In front of it, Sylvain spies a woman, most likely in her late thirties, with excellent tits right on display. At first, he thinks she’s an escort, but she’s flagging people down and waving pamphlets in the air.

“For just a small donation, you can help support the restoration of this beautiful historic building!”

Ah, one of those.

“Sylvain?” Dimitri catches up to him as Sylvain heads straight for her instead of turning down the street for the restaurant.

“Hold on, this is relevant to our interests.”

Dimitri nods and looks back at Felix. “I’m sure we’ll be seated promptly.”

Felix just growls but Sylvain knows he’s just itching for any excuse to keep complaining.

Tossing that thought aside, Sylvain approaches the woman, and is immediately hit by the strong scent of her imitation-brand perfume. “Sylvain Gautier, nice to meet you,” he says.

She eyes him carefully before her smile grows and she takes his hand, delighting in the way that he kisses it instead of shaking it. “My, what a gentlemen. And who are those handsome men behind you?”

“My boyfriends,” he says, watching how her eyes widen then fall back to place. “Dimitri and Felix.” Dimitri waves but Felix, characteristically, crosses his arms and scoffs.

“Manuela,” she sings back to him.

“So what’s the story with the Opera House?” He snags a pamphlet from her other hand and flips through it with a high whistle. “Over a millennium of history, huh?”

“You gentlemen aren’t from around here, are you?”

“Fhirdiad,” Dimitri says, meekly. Sylvain notices how hard he’s keeping his eyes up. Gay as the man may be, Dimitri can’t deny he has a thing for tits. No matter the owner’s gender.

“Wow, quite the long trip from home!”

“We’re urban explorers,” Sylvain explains. “Into the derelict and abandoned. Heard some rumors about the Opera House. They’re not actually thinking of turning it into a movie theatre are they?”

Manuela immediately huffs and stares up at the impressive structure behind her. “Mittelfrank is as important to the city of Enbarr as the Imperial Palace,” she explains, her voice catching on a sob. “To think they want to tear it down and put in a discount movie theatre, it just…”

She chokes and whips a handkerchief from between her breasts to wipe her nose.

“Wait, they’re going to tear it down?” Dimitri seems just as heartbroken as Manuela, despite the fact that Sylvain knows he’s never really heard much of the place. Such is the life of an urban explorer: seeing any historical building fall to demolition equipment is a tragedy.

“So what’s your connection to Mittelfrank?” Sylvain leans against a pillar of the building and only regrets it once he sees a few bits of plaster fall around him.

“I performed in their last show, years ago. Then the company went bankrupt and it’s been abandoned since.”

“How many years ago?”

“Almost a decade,” she says, wiping her nose.

Sylvain’s mind fills with the possibilities of what could be inside; dust covered curtains, a dilapidated piano, old programs and tickets strewn about the box office. He has to get in. They have to film this place. Now, before it’s too late.

“Sylvain,” Felix is whining behind Dimitri, his eyes narrowing with hunger.

He waves him off, turning his attention back to Manuela. “Here, let me donate to your cause,” he says, pulling a ten from his wallet and slipping it into the coffee-can-turned-donation-box that sits on a ledge of the building. “And if I may have your number? Just, you know, to keep up-to-date on the state of the building.”

“Of course!” She happily exchanges numbers with Sylvain and he can’t help but notice how her posture changes during the exchange, her breasts on full display.

He waves her off and ushers his lovers around the corner towards the restaurant.

“What the fuck was that about? You’re not going to sleep with her, are you?”

“Felix, you are the most dense urban explorer I know,” Sylvain says, thinking briefly about how nicely Manuela’s tits would bounce in bed. Another time, maybe. With Dimitri’s and Felix’s consent, of course. They’ve allowed him the occasional one night stand here and there, but this is a more pressing matter than sex. “We’re getting into the Opera House tomorrow.”

Dimitri smiles and a renewed perk is added to his step. “I see,” he says as the three of them slip into the restaurant.

* * *

Dinner isn’t as romantic as Dimitri would have liked it to be. Felix gawks at the prices before he settles on the smallest cut of prime rib available and Sylvain orders a bottle of sparkling wine that Dimitri assumes is about the same price of one night in their hotel room. But the service is lovely and the food is exquisite — or, at least what of it Dimitri can taste — and the atmosphere is perfect; warm, cozy, and laidback.

Aftertheir meal, Sylvain pays for the meal with the same card he used to pay for the hotel; Dimitri makes a mental note to not look at that bill when it comes in. They take their time walking back to the hotel, enjoying the sights of the city. That is, until, they come near the vicinity of the Opera House once again.

Sylvain smirks, sneaking down every visible corner around the building; Manuela is no longer there, but she has left behind a smaller coffee can on one of the ledges of the building. Dimitri is hopeful that it doesn’t get ransacked by some greedy passersby, but he also assumes there isn’t much in there save a few coins of spare change.

“There’s a boarded up door on the East side that looks close to collapsing,” Sylvain says as he comes back from the far side of the building.

“Not so loud,” Dimitri says from the corner of his mouth. The streets are still plenty crowded with people, hopping bars and enjoying the night.

“What? It’s not like anyone’s going to pay us any mind.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” Felix says under his breath, gesturing towards a gaggle of young woman, staring them all down.

“Well,” Sylvain says with a smile, aiming a strategic finger gun back at the ladies, “it’s not our fault that we’re drop dead gorgeous.”

Dimitri groans, quickening his pace back to the hotel. He hates when people stare. Back after the fire, he had to wear an eyepatch until his right eye healed; school was the worst it had ever been for him during that time. He’s not sure if switching to glasses was better or worse, but as he grew…and grew, the staring only got worse. He doesn’t care if it’s because people find him to be good looking or whatever, the prying eyes of strangers will always bother him.

His therapist had once mused, “then why make videos to post to the internet?”

He smiles, thinking of exactly why he loves the career he has built with Sylvain and Felix: he’s not the center of attention, the buildings and locations are. Instead of people staring at him, they’re staring through his eyes at something else. And he enjoys that. Very much so.

They make it back to the hotel with only a few more stares from onlookers and settle into their room for the night.

“Well, that was a lovely evening,” Sylvain says, his voice still full of bubbles as he collapses back onto the hotel bed. “Ooooh, this is lovely. Fe, join me.”

Felix rolls his eyes but falls onto the bed beside Sylvain and immediately moans with delight. “Oh shit, this is comfortable.”

Dimitri regards the wall of window and walks over to draw the curtains.

“Don’t bother, babe,” Sylvain winks. “Let the whole city watch.”

He closes the curtain anyway. “No, thank you.” Dimitri knows he has given one of his apparent ‘killer smiles,’ because Sylvain immediately recoils.

“You know what? Good plan.”

Dimitri hums a low laugh and crawls onto the bed, making it over to Sylvain and kissing him ever so gently upon his lips. “We make _urbex_ videos for people to watch. Let’s keep it that way.”

Sylvain just nods, his lips still puckered up for another kiss.

“Oh, that’s nice baby.”

Dimitri chuckles, brushing back a few strands of ginger hair to admire the pink flush growing on Sylvain’s cheeks.

Felix huffs beside them, peeling off his clothes and grabbing Dimitri’s face in his hands.

“Don’t I get one?”

The intensity in his amber eyes, staring down Dimitri, is simply contagious, and he immediately closes the distance to seal their lips in a kiss.

Sylvain is still beneath them, laughing, but slips out from the small prison to tear off his own clothes. He cozies up beside Felix, wrapping his arms around the smaller man’s waist and nibbling at his neck.

Felix parts from Dimitri’s kiss, his eyes hazy and lidded. He has lost his words, and Dimitri is only somewhat thankful; though they often sting, he loves the deep purr of Felix’s voice.

“What is it, my love?” Dimitri runs the back of his hand down Felix’s cheek, watching his skin flutter to his touch. “What do you want?”

“Quite a lot, but the looks of it.” Sylvain’s voice is devilish and Dimitri looks down to see Felix’s cock, sitting at full attention between his thighs; Sylvain’s hands are mere inches from pleasuring him.

Felix’s eyes dart around, his mouth wide open, lips wet and slick. He swallows hard, simply nodding at Sylvain and looks back up at Dimitri.

“Take…that off,” he says, trailing a shaking finger down the buttons of Dimitri’s shirt.

“As you wish.”

Dimitri leans back down, lips and teeth and tongue busy at work as he undoes the top button of his blouse. Felix takes care of the rest, only stopping at the last one as a whimper catches in the back of his throat; Sylvain’s hands must be quiet busy now.

Once glance down confirms Dimitri’s suspicions; Sylvain’s hands are already full of Felix’s cock, pumping up and down as Felix’s hips twitch recklessly.

Felix grips Dimitri’s hair to pull him in closer, deepening the kiss. He’s desperate for release, Dimitri can tell, and it’s making his own need sing between his legs. He breaks apart, staring as Felix is lost in his own pleasure; Dimitri slips the blouse off his arms, tossing it aside.

Felix stares, running a hand down Dimitri’s chest, fingernails scratching when Sylvain reaches lower to cradle Felix’s balls, gasps and whimpers running from the Felix’s mouth.

“I’ll be back,” Dimitri coos as he lifts off the bed, undoing his belt buckle to give his growing erection more room. He finds Sylvain’s bag and rifles through, knowing there’s more than just that one container of lube in his bag. Lo and behold, there’s…a lot.

“Sylvain, did you take everything from home?”

“Not everything, babe,” he says, tearing off his shirt and pushing Felix down as he lowers his mouth down to Felix’s dick. “But there’s a bullet vibrator somewhere in there. And some of that tingly lube he likes.”

‘Wh-what?!” Felix is dazed; he can barely sit himself up on his elbows as he cranes his neck around to see what Dimitri is up to.

Dimitri smirks and finds the bullet and the lube.

“This is the one with the remote, right?” Dimitri continues to rummage through until he finds the exact item he’s looking for.

“Absolutely, babe,” Sylvain says, taking Felix into his mouth.

The room fills with Felix’s cries and Dimitri smiles. There’s so much he’d like to do with Felix tonight, so many ways he could take him _and_ Sylvain. But Felix take precedence tonight.

He turns to see Felix’s legs kicking up around Sylvain as he thrusts deeper in his mouth, his cries rolling over Dimitri and pulsing through own his cock, straining within his pants.

In a few moments, Felix’s back arches in a tell tale sign that he’s coming down Sylvain’s throat. He writhes upon the sheets until he finally falls limp, Sylvain’s mouth leaving Felix’s cock with a sickening pop. “Why…why are you two…?”

“To thank you,” Dimitri says, handing the lube and bullet over to Sylvain as he keeps the remote in his hands. “For choosing such a lovely room for us.”

Felix’s chest is just as red as his face and Dimitri leans down to pepper it with kisses.

Sylvain uncaps the lube bottle, getting his fingers nice and slick as well as the small, silicone bullet. “So what’s my thanks for paying for it?”

“Well, you’re here, right?”

“Ouch. Dima babe, you can be so cruel sometimes.” Sylvain is still all smiles, though, as he begins to stretch Felix open, prepping him for the sex toy.

“A-ah!” Felix shuts his eyes tight, back arching over the plush bed once again. Dimitri is beside him, brushing his hair back as it falls out of its hair tie and cooing into his ear.

“It’s alright, my love,” he says, lips ghosting over the shell of his ear. “You know it’ll feel good.”

“It…it does,” Felix says, gulping hard. “Already.”

“I’ve got that magic touch,” Sylvain smirks, continuing to stretch Felix wide.

“It’s…the lube, assh-hole!”

Dimitri laughs and stares at the purple bottle, now discarded upon the bed sheets; it _is_ Felix’s favorite. Sylvain knows just how to spoil them.

“Ready, babe?”

Felix grips Dimitri’s hand and nods, allowing Sylvain to slip the bullet inside.

“Ah…ahhh~” His voice flutters out from his chest, his hand squeezing Dimitri’s as he grows used to the bullet.

Dimitri kisses his knuckles, one by one, before he turns on the remote, its florescent light shining through the silicone exterior and turns it up to the first setting.

Felix jolts in the bed and Sylvain moans along, his hands still slick with lube as he slowly begins to jerk himself to full attention.

“Goddess, you’re gorgeous, Fe.”

Dimitri looks over; Felix’s knees are up in the air, shaking along with the vibration of the toy, his boxer briefs hanging from his ankle, slowly jutting up and down over the bed. With a hard swallow, Dimitri feels his own cock throb, and now he’s desperate to fully undress.

Instead, he leans low, kissing Felix, whose tongue erratically darts in and out, before Dimitri clicks the remote to increase the vibration.

“F-fuck!” Felix cries, nearly biting Dimitri’s lips in the process.

Dimitri doesn’t apologize, only smiles, holding the remote up. “Is it good?”

Felix doesn’t even look; his fingers grab a fist full of bed sheets and his hips jut up, beads of precum leaking onto his stomach.

Sylvain is completely taken by his own hand, occasionally looking down at Felix’s ass before upping the rhythm around his cock.

Felix’s breath is coming out in labored huffs, but his eyes settle onto Dimitri lap, and a shaky hand undoes the zipper, reaching in to grab his cock.

“L-let me…”

Dimitri responds by clicking the remote, setting the toy to pulse hard and rhythmically in Felix’s ass.

With a cry, Felix grabs Dimitri’s dick and Dimitri folds over, not expecting that harsh of a response.

“S-sorry,” Felix slurs out, writhing on the sheets until he’s flipped over on the bed; face in Dimitri’s lap, ass twitching in the air. He fumbles through Dimitri’s pants, exposing his needy cock, and is about to press his lips to the head when Sylvain grabs his wrist.

“Babe,” he says, face flushed. “I know you want Dimitri inside you, but…where?”

Felix groans, biting down on his lip and looking back into Dimitri’s eyes. He doesn’t say anything, but Dimitri can read the look as, _stop this awful thing in my ass and fuck me properly already_.

Dimitri nods, stepping off the bed to finally take off his pants. In that time, Sylvain takes Dimitri’s former position, slipping his cock deep into Felix’s pliant mouth.

“Ah, yes, Fe, suck me dry,” he cries out, head tipped all the way back.

Dimitri ups the pulsing of the toy and both Sylvain and Felix react in a way that makes him smile.

“Like that?”

“You can really be a fuck sometimes, you know that?”

Felix mumbles around the dick in his mouth as Dimitri holds onto the remote tight, taking his new place on the bed behind Felix’s ass.

The sight before him catches his breath; the small, silicone tube is buzzing inside Felix, the lube dripping out of his tightly clenched ass. Dimitri swallows, ready to replace it. He just likes going through all the settings first.

He grabs the lube bottle and coats his dick in a copious amount, hissing as the tingling sensation constricts every nerve in his body; this is the shit _Felix_ likes. As he jerks himself with the lube, the prickling sensations pierce through him, until he shudders out a cry and raises the toy to its highest setting.

Felix cries out, Sylvain’s cock slipping out of his mouth, dripping with spit and precum.

“Dimitri, come on,” Sylvain whines, guiding his dick back into Felix’s mouth, resuming his shallow fucking.

Dimitri gets settled, his palms rounding over the soft curve of Felix’s ass. He moves a thumb to push the toy in just a bit, a muffled moan crying out in response.

He’s at his limit; he pulls the toy out, still vibrating on the bed and dripping with lube and other fluids, before he slams full force into Felix’s ass.

The thrust knocks Sylvain back a bit, but he smirks at the new challenge before him.

“Babe, you know I love when you do this,” he says, picking up the speed of his hips as Felix’s fingers dig deep into his thighs.

Dimitri nods, moaning out at the force of Felix’s white hot clench, blurring his vision. He’s not sure how long he can last. Wrapping one arm around to grab a hold of Felix’s dick, he begins a rhythm, steadily rocking Felix deeper onto Sylvain’s cock as the three of them moan and gasp above the sound of the toy, buzzing incessantly on the bed.

The bed creaks beneath them, but Dimitri pays no mind, riding out his pleasure inside Felix and staring at Sylvain from across his back. It’s all too much and in moments he’s crying out as he spills into Felix, feeling the warm hot rush over his fingers as Felix follows suit.

“Tch, you two,” Sylvain whines, grabbing Felix’s hair and fucking deeper into his mouth until his back arches back, his spend filling Felix’s mouth.

They all collapse upon each other, a tepid pile of flesh, cum, and sweat.

It’s fine. They deserve it. And besides, there’s a tub that can fit all of them. And they’ll probably go for another round in there, as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I feel like this threesome is all over the place, asdfghjk)
> 
> I've read a bunch of modern aus where these three come from money and let's be real: considering their canon status, it totally makes sense. But the purpose of this au was to take that part away from them and to play around with how they would act in a world where they're really more middle class (save Sylvain until his dad went into debt, haha). Putting this fic in a world post-CF gave me a good excuse to play around with the idea that they're essentially broke. It's fun to put these characters in situation like that
> 
> Anyway! These next few chapters in Enbarr are a nice contrast to the dumpy motels from earlier (and to come). Thanks for reading!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 in Enbarr! The boys do an explore & then go out on the town, and there are quite a few POV swaps. No sex scene in this chapter.

The bed is definitely far too comfortable to get out of, even when Felix wakes up with his face pressed up against Dimitri’s chest, another place he finds difficult to leave. He yawns, and spots Sylvain on the other side of the bed, his hand cupping Dimitri’s left tit and a practically drunken smile on his lips. Felix shakes his head, but it’s not enough to stop his smile from spreading; these are definitely his favorite kind of mornings.

He sits up, peeling Dimitri’s arm from its place on his waist, and stretches his arms over his head, cringing at the way his body cracks and creaks. It’s also been a while since his last work out and he’s feeling pretty shitty about it. Being cooped up in a car and hopping between motels hasn’t really put him in the right mental space for a good run.

Stepping out of bed, Felix takes his still sleepy form over to the window, pulling back the curtain just a bit, so the morning light doesn’t disturb his other two thirds on the bed.

Enbarr is beautiful. He wishes he could live here instead of Fhirdiad; there’s life and energy and a strong history that bleeds throughout the city. Fhirdiad is home, of course, but there’s something sad about it, something he can’t quite put into words. A feeling of being lost, a feeling that he could lose Sylvain and Dimitri at any moment.

And it almost happened, with Dimitri at least.

Leave it to Sylvain to enter their lives and not only save their relationship, but add a new angle to it.

He leans his head against the glass, watching the morning sun spill rays of light over the buildings in the city. A pair of strong arms wrap themselves around his waist, pulling him in to the warmth of a broad chest.

“Morning, my love,” Dimitri says, kissing his neck and nuzzling him close.

“Morning.” Felix’s voice is soft and quiet, realizing just how sore his jaw is from the previous night. A blush threatens his cheeks, but he can’t deny they had a great evening, and it only got better in the bathroom when the jacuzzi jets started to run.

Dimitri continues to hold him close, breathing in slow; Felix can hear the smile on his lips and he’s just thankful Dimitri has reached a place where he can be this comfortably happy. He turns in his arms, pressing their chests together and raking his fingers through soft, blond strands.

“What’s on your mind?” Dimitri kisses his nose before leaning their foreheads against one another. His eyes are heavy lidded, still peppered with sleep. Felix wants to take him back to bed all over again, but he bites his lip instead.

“Do,” he starts slowly, considering his words. He wants to mention Enbarr, wants to mention a possible future the three of them can have here. Instead, he goes for, “do you want to look for the fitness center?”

Dimitri hums and holds Felix tighter. “It’s been a few days since our last work out, huh?”

“Y-yeah,” Felix says, his heart still heavy with the other thought.

“Sure,” he says, releasing Felix but still gripping tightly to his hand. “Let’s go for a little walk.”

They both look over to Sylvain, tangled in the sheets, his bare ass on display.

“He’ll be fine,” Dimitri says with a laugh as he grabs some clothing from his bag.

Felix merely hums, finding the only other thing he packed besides sweatpants and hoodies as he pulls out some tight lycra and spandex. The Enbarr conversation can wait.

For now…

* * *

Sylvain wakes up to an empty bed and a pout in his lips. He sits up, looks around the room, and exhales a low whine when he realizes he’s alone.

Until, that is, he hears the shower running in the bathroom.

“Why’d they leave me like this?” He’s complaining, but once he flops back onto the bed, he no longer cares. It’s the most comfortable bed he’s ever slept on in his life and it’s a fair size bigger than the one they have at home, even considering the unconventional shape.

Moments later, the shower water stops and both Dimitri and Felix step out of the bathroom; they may as well be making out because they’re not even acknowledging that Sylvain is even awake.

“Morning,” he says, with a devious hum, startling the towel off of Felix.

Worth it.

“What the fuck, Sylvain?”

“Good morning, dear!”

“Thank you, Dimitri,” he says slipping out of bed to grab the towel before Felix can bend down to grab it.

“Sylvain!”

Felix reaches over but Sylvain brings the damp towel to his nose and Felix immediately recoils.

“You two found a gym, huh?” He tosses the towel back and slightly regrets putting a bacteria infested item so close to his face, but it smells so good. Felix smells so good.

Dimitri nods, immediately dressing right before him; a crime, honestly. “Yes! Right by the pool. There’s even a hot tub and a sauna.”

Sylvain cringes, happy to skip those last two but sits back on the bed. “How cute. You two had a little training session together.”

Felix just rolls his eyes and gets back into his standard road trip attire; a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. “Well, you weren’t getting out of bed, so we figured we’d look for the gym.”

“Fair,” he says, lying back. “So, what’s our plan? The row houses or the opera?”

Felix pulls his still wet hair up in his signature messy bun, looking between the two of them. “The Opera sounds pretty cool, not gonna lie,” he says. “Maybe we can save the row houses for tomorrow? Or even when he head out to our next stop, since they’re on the edge of the city anyway.”

Sylvain smiles and Dimitri nods, his face bright.

“I think that’s an excellent idea.”

“Look at you go, Mr. Logistics!”

Felix blushes and tries to hide his face within his hoodie, but Sylvain runs over to grab his face.

“I’m teasing, get over it!”

Felix whines, but doesn’t fight against Sylvain’s hold. Just pouts. “It makes the most sense, honestly.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Dimitri says, kissing him on one cheek while Sylvain takes care of the other.

He writhes and wriggles in their hold, but Sylvain knows that deep down, he loves the attention. From the two of them, at least. Any other attention always puts him in the worst mood, which is why he’s thankful the focus of their channel is not on _them_ , but the locations.

Felix wiggles his way out of their hold, nearly falling back against the glass partition in the room. “Would you two stop it already?”

“Sorry, sorry!”

“We’re sorry, Felix,” Dimitri says with a sly wink.

“So, are we heading out then?”

“You,” Felix says, gesturing to all of Sylvain, “might want to get into some clothes first.”

Eventually, Sylvain gets dressed and the three of them eat an incredible breakfast in the hotel lobby before they pack up their bags to head out into the heart of Enbarr.

During the day, the city is bustling with a different kind of energy than the evenings; the financial district is abuzz with cell phones going off and suited workers not bothering to look up at other pedestrians. It’s alive and well, every inch of it. So Sylvain has some reservations when the crowd doesn’t die down around the Opera House.

Manuela is there again, in a different but just as revealing top, but she’s shaking her can with less enthusiasm, dark circles prominent under her eyes.

“She’s definitely not a morning person,” Sylvain muses as he guides Dimitri and Felix around a street corner alley, remaining unseen to her sleep deprived eyes. “This is good for us. I’ll send her a quick text to get her away from the Opera House, and that’s when we strike.”

“Right…”

Dimitri is casting nervous glances around the corner towards her. “Are you sure?”

“Dimitri. Babe. We trespass into buildings all the time. This isn’t any different.”

“Yes, but it’s a new city. We’re not from here, this could be…”

“Felix, shut him up for me.”

Right on cue, Felix pulls Dimitri into a short, frustrated kiss that seems to quiet down anymore protests from the blond.

Sylvain smiles as he sees the tension immediately melt off Dimitri’s shoulders. He pulls out his phone and prepares his first text:

_Hey! It’s Sylvain, from last night? Gorgeous red head? I’m a little lost right now, think you could help me out??_

Sylvain is sure to add copious emojis to the message and after pressing send, cranes his neck to see her reaction.

Her eyebrows raise are her phone dings with a text notification and upon reading it, her smile widens.

Sylvain gets her response a few moments later:

_Of course I remember you, darling! Where are you? Let me see if I can help._

“Bingo,” Sylvain says, typing in some random location he saw across town as they drove in the previous.

She sets her donation can down — she’s terrible at this, honestly — and sips her extra large coffee while texting with her other hand, walking away from the Opera House in their direction.

_Oh wow, how’d you get all the way over there?_

“Stupid boy,” she muses as she passes the alley way, not even noticing that the three of them are just a few feet from her, holding their breaths as she walks by.

Sylvain watches as she disappears among the crowd and he darts.

“So fucking easy,” he laughs as the three of them try to walk as inconspicuously as they can towards the Opera House.

Dimitri whines behind him, but Felix holds his hand, squeezing it every few seconds.

“Don’t worry about it, Dimitri, we’ll be fine.”

They swing past the side of the building, a poorly kept alleyway with an old refrigerator leaning against the wall. Sylvain walks up to it and pushes it aside, revealing a door, boarded up with rotting wood.

“It’s just…she’ll be back, won’t she? She’ll see that we’ve been inside!”

Sylvain shakes his head and easily tears off the rotting planks of wood; Felix is crouched beside him, already getting his camera and respirator ready.

“Dima, baby,” Sylvain says, staring at the very open door before them. “Who cares by then? What matters is that she’s not here when he get in.” He leans over to kiss Dimitri on the cheek, leaving his hand on his chin for just a few extra moments.

Dimitri’s eyes flutter close; it shouldn’t be this easy to calm this man down, even if it’s just for a few moments. He nods, slinging his backpack from over his shoulder to get ready for the explore.

“I honestly can’t believe this place is this run down. It’s in the heart of the city. We’re like a stone’s throw away from the Imperial Palace!”

“You know it’s not used as a palace anymore, right? There’s no monarchy anymore, hasn’t been for centuries?” Felix ducks into the building, respirator over his nose and already warping his voice.

Sylvain laughs and shakes his head; of course he knows. Still, it’s wild that such a huge, historical building with a significant cultural impact has been left to the elements like this.

\---

Felix flips the light of his camera on the moment he’s inside the opera house; it’s pitch dark inside, as he can guess from all the boarded up windows on the outside of the place. He finds himself in a hallway; the walls and floors are plain white, dust peppering the corners in every direction.

“Must be a side hallway? Or maybe access for the performers?”

There’s a clamoring behind him as the only light from outside trails in; Dimitri pushes in first, followed by Sylvain who has enough courtesy to shut the door behind him.

“Don’t want to let in a draft,” he says, voice muffled in his respirator.

“Or the cops,” Felix says with an eye roll, weaving through the narrow corridor until he comes face to face with the first door he sees. It looks heavy, as if hundreds of years of rust and dust have sealed it closed. He gives it a gentle push and his eyes open wide when it actually gives, leading them to the main foyer.

“Holy shit…”

The three of them walk into the room, marveling at the extravagance still holding up despite however many years this place has been abandoned.

“Wish I could have seen an opera here,” Sylvain says, leaving footprints in the dust coated carpet, revealing a vibrant red beneath it.

“Like you could afford it.”

Sylvain smiles, the light from his camera scanning the box office signs, missing more letters than not.

“My dad could have when we were kids. You know, before he went bankrupt.”

Dimitri laughs, following him to the box office kiosks. “Was this place even open back then?”

“I think so,” Sylvain says, jiggling the handle of a door. “It’s had to have been closed for at least a decade by now.”

Felix groans and rolls his eyes. “Some researcher you are.” He walks up to the box office, the coated glass only allowing him to see so much beyond it, but there’s an old register and tickets strewn about the floor; it’s definitely been at least a few years since this place last operated.

There’s a loud creak and Sylvain yelps a small victory cry. “I got in!!”

Felix keeps his camera on the box office window, laughing softly as he sees Sylvain crouch around in the small space.

He picks up a ticket and whistles. “Shit, yeah, I don’t think we were even born when this place closed.”

“You should take one of those,” Felix says with a smirk.

“And you should edit that bit out,” Sylvain shoots at Dimitri. “Since I’m going to but it breaks the urbex code.”

Felix rolls his eyes: take only pictures, leave only footprints.

“It’s one fucking ticket. A memento. They’re gonna tear this place down, anyway. May as well hold onto something.”

“It can’t have been that long,” Dimitri says, squeezing in behind Sylvain, craning his neck to read the ticket in his hands. “These tickets could be from any performance, not just the final one. Besides, Manuela said she used to perform here.”

Sylvain winks as he hands a ticket to Dimitri. “She’s a woman who would totally lie about her age, and not just with her words, if you know what I mean.”

“No,” Felix says, flashing his light in Sylvain’s eyes. “I don’t.”

Dimitri sighs and leaves the box office room behind. “We don’t need to know about all of your sexual exploits before you started dating us, Sylvain.”

Sylvain laughs, pocketing a handful of the tickets and following Dimitri out of the box office. “If it’s not obvious, cougars love a guy like me. And I can’t deny it: fake tits bounce just as nicely as the real ones.”

“Sylvain!” Dimitri and Felix yell in unison, gathering the attention of several birds who have apparently made the theatre their home. They immediately shut up, staring tentatively at the vaulted ceiling of the foyer, a crystal chandelier pathetically swinging above them.

“Birds, huh?” Sylvain finally breaks the silence, moving for the opposite side hallway. “So the ceiling must be wide open in the theatre, huh?”

Dimitri stares at the multiple sets of double doors, most of them with yellow caution tape across the front of them.

“Let’s save the actual theatre for last,” Felix says, his hand on Dimitri’s shoulder. “Because we’re definitely spending a good amount time in there.”

Dimitri nods with a smile, and the three of them head off into a hallway door, opposite from where they walked in.

\---

It’s just as dusty as the previous one, with more cobwebs and spiderwebs dusting the corners that Dimitri _knows_ will get caught in his hair. He ducks low as the three of them snake through the halls and soon, they come across a few doors that definitely don’t lead to the outside.

Sylvain budges one open and smiles when his camera light flashes back into his eyes.

“Found a dressing room!”

The room is small, too small for the three of them, but they squeeze in anyway. Dimitri scans the dust covered mirrors, catching his reflection and giving a little wave back. Sylvain slings an arm around his shoulder, waving back as he also points his camera at the mirrors.

“Sylvain, turn your light down,” Felix spits out in the back corner.

Sylvain laughs and actually listens, a small miracle, honestly.

Dimitri marvels at the amount of light bulbs surrounding the mirror and how many of them are still intact. In the reflection of the mirror, he spots a small love seat and he turns, zooming in on the wide open whole, showing the metal workings inside and the cushioning spilling out.

“Can’t believe there are still costumes in here, this is wild!”

He turns to Sylvain, who’s against the back wall, his camera hanging low on his neck; he’s not even filming.

Dimitri sighs; while it takes longer to sift through more footage, it also gives him a better video with three different points of view to show the viewers. It’s always irritating when Sylvain does this. Especially when he’s the one that wanted to explore this location and conned a poor woman into letting them in.

“Why aren’t you filming?”

“Looking for my size.”

Felix smacks Sylvain in the back of the head, rolling his eyes as Sylvain peels back with laughter. “I’ll be in the next room over,” Felix grumbles out.

Sylvain is just laughing, rubbing the back of his head as he continues to look through the rack of tattered clothing.

“Anything good?” Dimitri points his camera, trying to capture the different fabrics that manage to hold up in the decay.

“Don’t think any of these will fit.”

“Sylvain!”

“Okay, okay! You two are so uptight today. You’d figure after last night…”

And this time, it’s Dimitri who smacks him, with half the force, but still. He deserves it.

Sylvain sighs and steps back, finally lifting his camera and pointing it towards the clothing rack. “Can’t believe the stuff that’s been left behind. Like they were ready to come back for a performance, but they were told not to even bother. Sad, really.”

Dimitri nods; he’ll have to look deeper into why the opera closed. Or even ask El, since she grew up in Enbarr. He thinks he can remember something about her girlfriend being into music and theatre. She could have some good information. Regardless, the few pieces of clothing hanging on the rack are sad; tattered, moth eaten shreds of fabric waiting to simply disintegrate.

“Let’s see what the other rooms have, yeah?” Sylvain nods his head to the door, leading the two of them back into the hall.

They find Felix and a bunch of other single dressing rooms; small, couches destroyed, clothes in tatters, and mold covered mirrors with shattered bulbs at the edges. They even find a raccoon burrowing in a couch in one room and make the decision to pass up on filming inside that one.

At the end of the hallway, they enter a huge dressing room, definitely fit for an ensemble cast and not the lead performers. There’s heavy pipe work in here, as if this room got the short end of the stick when industrialization hit the continent. There’s a long row of mirrors, chairs and stools tossed around the floor in front of them. Unlike the other dressing rooms, the clothing racks are empty, save for a few cobweb covered hats Sylvain jokes about putting on. He never would, honestly; even touching them is sending him into a bit of a frenzy.

Dimitri turns a corner and sees the words _stage door_ before him. He catches his breath and looks back. “It’s the theatre.”

Sylvain’s laugh is giddy behind him and he darts back into the hallway. “Hold on, let me enter from the foyer! That way you’ll get two opposing shots!”

Dimitri simply nods, a light blush fluttering to his cheeks; Sylvain knows him too well.

“Well,” Felix says, with a nudge to Dimitri’s arm and a rare smile. “Let’s get on stage.”

With a deep breath, Dimitri pushes open the door. It makes a sickening screech as they enter the auditorium, greeted by a bright flash of sun streaming in from the collapsed ceiling above.

“Holy shit,” Felix whispers, aiming his camera above their heads. A few birds flutter around, but the rafters are covered in twigs and debris, making quite the cozy community for the birds of Enbarr. The wings of the stage are filled with ropes, attached to different curtains, backdrops, and rows of busted lights. There’s even one fly attached to a large white screen, pulled all the way to the ceiling.

“I guess they already started showing movies here,” Dimitri muses, stepping further onto the stage and looking out towards the seats. His jaw drops. There are hundreds. Probably over a thousand, at least. Close near to two thousand, even. Rows and rows of red velvet seats, covered in dust and mildew. There are two mezzanine sections above, with box seat balconies on the sides of the room. The ceiling above the audience is still intact, intricate designs and moldings depicting historical scenes; an image of the legend of Seiros, the unification Emperor, and others, painted high above.

“Fuck,” Sylvain says, as he pushes open a set of double doors from behind the rows of seats. “This place is…”

“It’s incredible,” Felix says, his camera low. “How…”

“It’s…beautiful.” Dimitri can almost feel tears, teetering at the brink of his eyes.

“How could they leave a place like this to ruin?” Sylvain moves to the middle of the seats, his voice echoing throughout the empty theatre. He pans slowly over the stage, shaking his head the entire time. “You two have got to see it from this angle.”

Felix leaps off the stage, jogging down one of the aisles and turning. His eyes pop wide. “Shit.”

Dimitri follows suit, more careful to step down some less than trustworthy stairs as he takes another aisle, turning to stare at the stage in front of them.

“Wow.” His lips move soundlessly as he pans his camera up, higher and higher, catching the details of the ceiling before moving it down once more.

“We should,” Sylvain starts slow, joining Dimitri’s side, “ _really_ donate to Manuela. Just…because.”

Dimitri nods. There are parts of this building that probably aren’t salvageable, but to let the whole thing go to waste…

It’s the purpose of their work. Document what’s left. Before it’s all gone.

He agrees with Sylvain’s idea; perhaps they should start donating their earnings to some restoration causes. More places than just this Opera deserve a chance to thrive once again.

* * *

The first thing Sylvain does when he gets back to the hotel room is take a nice, hot shower. He’s honestly surprised he ever agreed to exploring dusty old decaying buildings with Dimitri and Felix. But quite honestly, he was so smitten with the two of them at the time — and still is, to be quite frank — and in the years they’ve been doing this, he truly does see the former beauty of these locations. Beyond all the dust and mold — he holds back a gag at that thought — there’s a history, forgotten to time. And the three of them film it for the world to see, one last time.

He also manages to send a quick text to Manuela, apologizing to her and lying that he got even more lost as she was looking for him, but that he managed to find his way back to the hotel. He makes a point to ask if the “Save the Opera” fund has a website, and that he promises to make a generous donation.

Because Dimitri wouldn’t shut up about it.

He kicks open the bathroom door once he finally feels clean, letting the steam float out as he peers in the mirror.

He also does not hesitate to ask Manuela about the best clubs in the city. Sylvain wants to party. He wants a drink in his hand, a disco ball above his head, and both of his boyfriends deliciously drunk on the dance floor, grinding up against his body. She offers a few recommendations but he settles on _Investraed Interest_ , if only because the name is disastrously awful, which means they _have_ to mix some pretty strong drinks.

Bartender logic.

With a few more tilts of his chin, he realizes he could forgo a shave for now, and marches out of the bathroom with nothing but a far too small towel at his hips.

“You two ready to party?”

Felix is tucked in bed, eyes on his phone — probably checking in on the cats and hopefully not stuck in a long text thread with Glenn — and Dimitri is on the other side of the suite, his computer up and running.

Obviously not.

“Are you two fucking serious? Get up. Get dressed. We’re going out and getting fucking plastered tonight.”

“Sylvain, I really want to get started on the hospital edits. We’re already up another fifty thousand subscribers!”

Shit, almost a hundred thousand new subscribers in just a few days? What magic is Dimitri casting with his edits and uploads?

“That’s even more reason to put on your hottest clothes and celebrate! You too, Fe. I packed something real hot for you to wear.”

Felix groans, hitting his head against the plush headrest. “I don’t like clubbing, Sylvain, you know that.”

“You don’t like clubbing when you’re _sober_ ,” Sylvain stresses and watches as Felix’s face turns bright red. “And I don’t plan on letting you stay sober tonight. Especially with that idiot brother of yours moping about his broken engagement.”

“How did you…?”

“Your face, babe,” Sylvain says, trying to put on his best sympathetic smile. “It says it all. So what do you say to a few drinks?”

Felix mumbles something along the lines of, “a drink or two _would_ be nice,” before he clambers out of bed and walks over to Sylvain.

“That’s the spirit, babe,” Sylvain says, laying a nice, resonant smack over Felix’s ass.

It gets the towel off his waist and in Felix’s hand as the smaller man starts hitting Sylvain over the head with it.

Dimitri comes over to wave off the flames, his face resting in a pout as he looks down at his bag. “I don’t think I packed anything good for clubbing, though.”

“Dimitri, you could walk in the place wearing a garbage bag and still look hot, don’t even start with me.”

“He’s right,” Felix’s says, the bite of the fight still on his tongue.

Sylvain decides to end anymore whining on Dimitri’s behalf by pulling out a tight black tee shirt and the same jeans he wore to dinner last night.

“Wear that,” he says. “That way we can admire your tits all night.”

“Sylvain!”

Felix says nothing in response, his head low; Sylvain knows he’s thinking the exact same thing, the little shit. At that, Sylvain digs through his bag and pulls out a pair of extremely tattered jeans and a really loose tank top. “For you, Fe.”

“How are these clubbing clothes?”

“You’ll look hot in them, that’s what makes them clubbing clothes.”

Felix merely groans, but stalks off to the bathroom to get dressed.

Sylvain takes by far the most time to get ready, but he has to look perfect. He’s wearing another brightly printed button down top with his tightest pair of jeans, ones that really accentuate his bulge. After a few swipes of gel to his hair, he’s ready to go.

Of the three of them, Sylvain by far enjoys the most attention. He notices every pair of eyes that look their way as they walk though the night streets of Enbarr towards the club; he managed to convince Felix that some heavy eyeliner would look really good and Dimitri should show off his cheekbones by pulling back his hair. He wants the world to see how good his boys look; he likes to show them off, even though they hate it.

And he wishes they wouldn’t because honestly, Dimitri is a stunning example of a human being, a specimen of a man. And Felix, for as nasty as he could be, is fucking hot as hell, all lithe limbs and smoldering gaze.

As they round up the line leading into the club, Sylvain pushes both Dimitri and Felix ahead of him. The bouncer looks…honestly, he looks like the nicest guy on the planet. No problem saying no, but there’s a smile plastered on his lips the whole way through. But he’s big. And a bit intimidating. So pushing ahead his big boyfriend along with his intimidating boyfriend is the best course of action.

“Sorry, gents,” the bouncer says with a bright smile. “Line starts back there.”

Sylvain looks at the line of annoyed club-goers, pretty much all of them dressed in blinding neon. Sylvain smiles and nudges Dimitri forward, much to the blond’s protests.

“I just thought, I don’t know, you’d be someone into a good game of arm wrestling?”

The bouncer’s eyes light up, but Dimitri looks back at Sylvain.

“What are you trying to do, Sylvain? Let’s get in line.”

“What’s the point of this?” Trust Felix to just blurt out his thoughts, only managing to egg the bouncer on to a game.

“Sounds good to me, how about we just…oh! Ignatz! Evening, buddy!”

The three of them turn their heads to a thin man with light green hair and Sylvain’s smile grows.

“Iggy! It’s been a hot minute!”

Their bus boy from the previous day is remarkably hot out of uniform, even if his clubbing gear is a little more on the modest side. But he’s still well put together, and Sylvain hopes to use him instead of Dimitri’s strength to get in.

Also, he highly doubts the arm wrestling thing was even going to work.

The bus boy, Ignatz, spots Sylvain and walks up to him. “Oh, Sylvain, right?”

“That’s right,” he says, reaching over to vigorously shake Ignatz’s hand. “We’re having a lovely time at the Imperial Suites, all thanks to your help, too!”

A blush creeps across Ignatz’s cheeks and the bouncer just tilts his head.

“Are these friends of yours?”

Ignatz looks ready to shake his head, but Sylvain quickly slings an arm around the other man’s shoulder, bringing him in closer than should be comfortable.

“Not quite, but it’s hard to deny his keen eye for art.”

Ignatz mumbles something under his breath and the bouncer laughs; it’s so resonant, Sylvain can feel it in his own chest.

“So true! That’s my buddy Ignatz for you! How about you all come in together, get to know him! And I’ll check in on y’all my break. My favorite DJ is playing tonight.”

“Thanks, Raphael,” Ignatz says, slinking into the club first.

“Yes, Raphael,” Sylvain says, patting a twenty into his palm, “thanks for your generosity.”

The bouncer just waves them in, but Dimitri is still a bundle of nerves.

“Why do you keep tipping people so much?”

“I’ve been saving up my tips at the bar, okay? Not _our_ money, my money. Stop worrying, okay?” Just to reassure him a little more, Sylvain plants a kiss on Dimitri’s brow as they snake through the entrance of the club.

He doubles back with Felix and Sylvain runs forward, grabbing Ignatz’s shoulder. “Hey,” he starts with a wink. “Let me buy you a drink.”

* * *

Dimitri is most comfortable hanging out by the bar. Sylvain disappeared onto the dance floor right after they got in, chatting it up with the bus boy from the hotel before escorting him to join him in dancing; Dimitri told him he can have as much fun as he likes, just be safe.

Felix is beside him, nursing a drink and staring towards the bright lights shining through the otherwise dim room. It usually takes him a while to warm up to situations like this: lots of people, loud music, but once he’s had enough alcohol, he tends to turn heads. Dimitri hopes it doesn’t get _that_ bad tonight.

“Wish she’d play something good instead of the same standard crap,” Felix eventually says over the booming bass.

Dimitri leans over, his arm gently brushing up against Felix’s. “I thought you liked this kind of music.”

Felix rolls his eyes and takes a large gulp of his drink, squinting his eyes at the burn of the alcohol. “Not the mainstream shit like this.”

“Why don’t you request a song?”

Slowly turning his head, Felix glares into Dimitri, making him instantly regret his words.

“W-well if you won’t, I will…”

“Dimitri!” Felix grabs his shirt before he can even more. “Don’t. I’ll…”

He sighs, turns around to get the bartender’s attention, and once he gets another drink, he downs it in one go.

“I’ll go with you.”

Dimitri simply nods, but his concern for Felix is growing. Together, they snake through the people on the dance floor, their bodies rolling and moving in time to the music. They pass Sylvain and Ignatz, but not before Sylvain gives them each a butt grab as they pass.

“What are you doing?!” Sylvain yells over the sound of the music; Ignatz seems to be lost in the sound. And possibly to the booze.

“Song request!” Dimitri calls back, Felix’s hand still on his shirt, tugging him along.

Sylvain gives a thumbs up and returns to his partner; Dimitri swears he can see a woman joining them as well; that’s just how Sylvain work.

DJ Macneary is a stunning young woman, her head phones hanging behind her intricately braided hair, done up in a purple beehive. She’s covered in tattoos and Dimitri can’t take his eyes off the way she moves to the music, like she was born with the melodies in her bones.

As they walk up to her booth, she spots them and winks.

“Enjoying the music?”

She continues to move, but her smile is infectious. Dimitri smiles back and nods, but Felix huffs and walks right up to her.

“Can you play something good?!”

Her mood instantly shifts; her headphones fall around her neck and her eyes narrow into slits.

Dimitri cuts in, his anxiety welling in his guts.

“What he means to say is, do you have anything by more independent artists?”

Her features soften and she gives them another wink and thumbs up, moving back to the music and her mixing board.

“Hey! That’s…!”

“Come on, Felix, let’s just dance…”

Felix huffs and mumbles complaints as they near Sylvain on the dance floor, but when the next song comes on, his shoulders relax. They both look up at the DJ and she gives them a very awkward set of finger guns.

“I mean, this is better, at least,” Felix says with a shrug.

Dimitri pulls him in close; he’s never been one for dancing, his large frame a hassle to move around, but with Felix’s guidance, they’re able to dance through the music. Sylvain slips behind them, his hands wrapping around Dimitri’s waist. He must be done with his friends for the evening. Now it can just be the three of them.

Several drinks and “good” songs later, Felix is wild on the dance floor. People step aside as he moves and glides, his hair splaying out of his hair tie, trailing down his exposed back; Sylvain has quite the eye for dressing Felix, Dimitri thinks with a blush.

Felix’s eyes are closed, his lips moving to the words beneath the beats, and Dimitri is transfixed.

“Look at our boy go,” Sylvain says, slipping in to join Felix.

A mistake, really.

With enough alcohol in him, Felix becomes dangerously horny.

He grabs Sylvain, pulling him in for a wet, messy kiss that garners a few gasps from the other club goers.

Dimitri is suddenly unnerved and regretting this night as each second passes.

“Alright, that’s enough,” he says, pulling Felix off of Sylvain, but that does nothing but get Felix’s lips on his next. Dimitri can’t resist as Felix practically climbs him, his tongue darting deep towards the back of his throat.

“Oh shit, he’s had a lot,” Sylvain says in an awkward laugh, trying to pull Felix off Dimitri.

“F-fucking stop, I’m enjoying myself, okay?” His words are slurred, but still filled with their normal vitriol.

“Sylvain?” Dimitri tries to hold Felix back as the smaller man claws at Dimitri’s far too tight shirt.

“Yup, we’re going!”

They drag Felix out of the club and awkwardly hobble through the streets of Enbarr, trying to quiet his cries of protest.

“She just started playing the good shit! What gives?!”

“How much did he have?”

Dimitri shrugs, keeping a strong hold on Felix as they near the hotel. “Enough, by the looks of it.”

Sylvain laughs and shakes his head. “My bad, I should’ve been there to cut him off.”

It’s a miracle they make it through the lobby of the hotel without Felix losing it, but the moment they’re in the elevator, his tongue is back in Dimitri’s mouth and he’s awful at fighting it back.

“Down, boy,” Sylvain says, grabbing Felix by the scruff of his neck to peel him off Dimitri. “And you two say _I’m_ the horny one.”

Dimitri nods, guilty for lacking the self control to push Felix back. They make it to their floor and Dimitri fumbles with the key card before they all fall into the suite.

“Should…should we throw him in the shower or something?”

Felix continues to dance to the music that must still be blaring in his head. Slowly, he makes his way towards the bed, stripping off pieces of clothing until his pants are dangling around his ankles.

“Yeah, that’s actually a great idea.”

He crawls on the bed, slowly swaying his head and spreading his legs. “Hey, Sylvain,” he slurs in a very unsexy wink. “Fuck me…”

“How about,” Sylvain starts, nice and slow, before grabbing Felix in his arms, “we fuck in the shower, huh?”

Felix wraps himself around Sylvain. “What…about Dimitri?” He reaches a hand out and manages to grab a strand of his hair before he’s pulled into the bathroom.

“That’s right, babe, Dimitri, too.”

They don’t fuck in the shower, but the water is enough to settle Felix down. Afterwards, they struggle to get him into anything other than a pair of boxer briefs and just deal with it, his hair dripping down his back.

“Off to bed with you, drunky,” Sylvain says, hoisting Felix over his shoulder and tossing him onto the bed.

“You didn’t…f-fuck me!”

“And I’m not going to. Neither is Dimitri, right?”

He nods, walking over to the bed with a glass water and some ibuprofen. “Come here, Felix,” he says, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Felix nuzzles into his lap and Dimitri can’t help but smile; Felix can be impossible to deal with when drunk, and oftentimes when sober, as well. But there are moments such as these, when he’s able to break down his walls and fall into a soft vulnerability.

The alcohol helps.

“Chin up, love,” Dimitri coos as he gets Felix to take a big gulp of water and the pills.

Sylvain’s in bed, gently massaging Felix through the covers. “We’ve still got shit to explore, can’t have you all hungover in the morning.”

Felix nods, finishing the water and curling into Dimitri’s lap.

Once they’re sure Felix has passed out, Dimitri and Sylvain share a knowing glance: the following morning is going to be rough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun building up the lore of the opera house. Based on a few theatre explores done by "The Proper People" on youtube and my own experience in theatre/music.
> 
> I really like messy drunk Felix, teehee.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a buffer chapter. No [explicit] sexy times in this chapter, but heads up for vomit.

Felix’s body feels like lead, completely unable to move or even lift a limb. So it’s a surprise when Felix wakes up to find that Dimitri and Sylvain aren’t piled on top of him. In fact, he’s lying in Dimitri’s lap, a hand fallen just at the side of his head with a stray lock of inky black hair between his fingers. Sylvain is spooning him up against his side, and both men are still dressed in their clothes from the previous night.

Felix groans, trying to move, and he regrets it the second he succeeds. His head reels, a blinding shock reverberating within and his stomach lurches. His eyes flash wide and he stumbles out of bed, over Dimitri’s lap, and runs to the bathroom, his head pounding in his ears through the whole trip.

He’s thankful he makes it to the toilet in time as he spews murky bile into the water, gripping to white porcelain with shaking hands.

He can barely hear Dimitri through the sound of his heaves, but he’s there, probably having been startled awake from how Felix got out of bed.

“I’ve got you, I’m here,” is all he says in that soft, low voice of his, gently running a hand up and down Felix’s back, holding his hair with the other. All Felix wants to do is curl in his lap, but he’s too busy throwing up to do that right now.

“I’ll go pick up something good and greasy, that always helps during my hangovers,” Sylvain says, hanging in the doorway, basking in the iridescent glow of the bathroom lights.

The thought of food makes Felix’s stomach roil and his head is back in the toilet, mostly dry heaving as what little was in his stomach already lies in front of him.

Dimitri pats Felix’s back. “Maybe later?”

Felix nods weakly, a pathetic thumbs up resting on the rim of the toilet.

“Yeah,” Sylvain sighs and joins at Felix’s side.

Felix’s head is still spinning and his body is aching from the force of his vomiting, but he feels an odd spread of warmth across his chest.

After a few moments of getting his head to stop spinning, he allows Dimitri and Sylvain to clean him up, put him in a nice, fresh pair of sweatpants and a new, untouched hoodie, and tuck him back into bed. Sylvain calls room service, but keeps it simple: a small breakfast for him and Dimitri, and a nice big cup of tea for Felix.

He manages to keep it down and after a few hours, starts whining for Sylvain to go out and get that greasy fast food he had mentioned earlier.

Dimitri is editing, glued to his gorgeous work station on the other side of the hotel suite.

“We shouldn’t go out on another explore with Felix like this,” he says as he clicks through clips of their explores. “Besides, it makes more sense to get the row houses on our way out of Enbarr.”

“Fine, fine!” Sylvain eventually agrees and upon returning with a brown paper bag, already stained with grease, spends the rest of his day with Felix tucked under his arm.

Felix slowly eats his fatty breakfast sandwich and immediately feels better; perhaps Sylvain is on to something with this.

“Thank you,” he mumbles into the sausage soaked biscuit, and Sylvain just brings him closer, placing a kiss upon his brow.

“Of course, babe.”

The rest of the day pretty much flows the same way; Dimitri is busy clicking away at the computer, the Enbarr sun splashing brilliantly across his face, and Sylvain’s head is resting on Felix’s as they watch random cat videos and argue through dumb phone games. They eventually migrate over to the other side of the suite and stoke the fire as they get cozy on one of the couches.

“Hey, Dima babe,” Sylvain calls out, “mind if we rent a movie? Don’t want to disturb you and all.”

Dimitri nods and softly mumbles, “almost done,” as Felix rests his head on Sylvain’s chest. The movie is not memorable, but Sylvain laughs through it all the same. As the movie rolls into what Felix assumes is the climax, his phone begins to ring.

“Huh,” he says, looking down at his flashing screen. “It’s Annette.”

“She wants to video call?”

Felix answers to Annette’s cheery face across his screen.

“Felix!!”

He winces, his head still recovering from their night on the town, and Sylvain just brings him in close, laughing.

“Hey Annette, might want to keep it down. Felix here had a bit of a rough night.”

“O-oh,”she says, her cheeks growing pink, and Sylvain sputters at the sight of it.

“From drinking, drinking! We promise. Nothing too naughty happened last night.”

“Sylvain!!”

Felix elbows him in the side and now there are two red heads are laughing at him.

“Well, I hope you’re feeling better, Felix,” she says after a deep breath. “I just wanted to check in! How’s the trip going? Have you explored anything super neat yet?!”

“Yeah, a few places,” Sylvain says, glancing over to Dimitri with one headphone hanging off his ear. “Dimitri’s been editing, so we’ve been posting throughout the trip.”

“I saw!!”

And Felix winces once more; he normally loves Annette’s melodic cheer, but right now, it’s a little much for his hangover ridden head.

“The Arianrhod video was super cool. And informative!”

“Thank you,” Dimitri says, situating himself on Felix’s other side.

“So, where are you guys now?”

“Enbarr.” Sylvain smiles and sits back. “And this is the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at. Swanky, great room service, bus boys who know how to dance.”

Annette laughs, enough to distract from Sylvain’s dumb comment.

“We should all go together one day, then! I haven’t been since I was a kid!”

“That sounds nice, actually,” Dimitri says, leaning his chin on Felix’s shoulder.

“How are my cats?” Felix immediately butts in; he’s anxious about Josie and Pepper, mostly because he hasn’t really checked in on the nanny cam all that much since arriving in Enbarr.

Annette smirks, her eyes squinting as she laughs and lugs up a black cat to her phone screen. “Pepper got into the treats,” she says, a giggle on her lips.

“Yes, and he puked everywhere.” They can hear Mercedes in the background, her voice far less playful than Annette’s. Sylvain just laughs.

“Aw, just like his daddy.”

Felix grumbles, but can’t help the fact that he has puked twice so far during this trip. He’s really hoping a third opportunity doesn’t arise; thankfully, neither time was because he stuffed is gob full of cat treats.

“And Josie?” He pushes Sylvain aside and Annette’s smile remains.

“She’s good! Still a little shy, but she sleeps in the bed with us.”

“That’s sweet,” Dimitri says.

“That bed is hers more than it’s ours.” Sylvain huffs and settles back against the couch.

“Well, we just wanted to see your faces. And see them live! Your numbers have been going up on the channel!!”

“Yeah, we noticed.” Felix remembers Dimitri telling them how many more they’d gotten in the past few days. It doesn’t even seem possible.

“I think,” Mercedes starts, her voice muffled in the background, “Dedue may have blasted your channel on his.”

“Shit, really?” Sylvain is back into the conversation and nearly smacks the phone out of Felix’s hand.

Annette nods. “Last week, I think. After your Fhirdiad Medicine School episode.”

“That surely explains a lot.” Dimitri looks over to the computer, a pensive look across his face.

“Well, we’ll see you ‘Lost Boys’ when you get back. Might call you again before that, though!”

“Sure, Annette.” Felix smiles; he does miss his friends back home. And his cats. “Take care. Kiss the cats for me.”

“Not a problem, bye!!”

The calls ends and Felix attempts to curl back up into Sylvain’s lap, but he’s too hyped, and Dimitri has already resumed his editing.

“Holy shit!” Sylvain is shaking through his excitement. “Dedue gave us a shout out! That’s…that’s fucking huge.”

Dimitri nods, getting his headset back on over his ears. “Dedue has a very well travelled channel.”

“Fucking duh!” Sylvain is nearly manic. “Almost 5 million subscribers. And almost one hundred thousand people coming to our channel, while we’re producing and posting new content? On this wild road trip? We…we might just fucking do it!”

Felix shrugs, taking the blanket from Sylvain since he obviously doesn’t need it anymore; for Felix, it was never about the numbers, never about the money. It was about spending time with his boyfriends, finding the beauty in the unconventional, and documenting the last few moments of some pretty interesting buildings, before they were completely lost to time. Granted, he’s thankful he doesn’t have to work an actual job, their views getting them enough money to get by while Dimitri and Sylvain make it up with their freelance and bartending gigs. He feels a little guilty at that, but remembers his last job and the stress of being a personal trainer at the gym. This life suits him much better.

But one million subscribers? He can feel the bile rise up in the back of his throat again. So many people watching him.

_No, not you. They’re watching the videos of the locations._

It’s become his mantra once they broke one hundred thousand subscribers, and since then it’s been playing in his head as if on a marquee.

“Hey,” Sylvain says, looking down as his hype dies out. “You good, babe?”

“Let’s just…finish the movie?”

Sylvain smiles, sitting back and brushing his fingers through Felix’s hair. “Yeah.”

They go through several movies and shows and other nonsense long after the sun has set, ordering take out throughout the day. Dimitri sets his computer to sleep and stands up from his chair, stretching.

“How’s the editing going?”

“Very well, actually.” He walks over to his bags to grab a fresh set of pajamas. “I think the hospital episode may be ready for upload tomorrow. Before he head out.”

“Fucking sweet!”

Dimitri smiles. “I’m going to shower, then…” His face flushes, but Felix knows what’s on his mind.

“Yes, Dimitri,” Felix says through a smirk. “We can cuddle in bed.”

“Wonderful.” He leans down kissing Felix, his finger just delicately tracing under his chin, then parts to saunter off to the bathroom.

“Let’s get ready to welcome him to bed then, yeah?”

Sylvain sweeps Felix up in his arms, bridal style with the blanket draped over his legs, and walks him over to the bed, plopping him down and joining him on the final bounce. He laughs and wrestles Felix out of the blanket and into the sheets and covers. Felix isn’t having fun with it until he finds Sylvain’s lips and his frustration melts away with the taste of leftover pizza sauce. His head is hardly pounding now, lost against Sylvain’s mouth, welcoming in his tongue with a soft moan.

“Feeling better, huh?” Sylvain parts the kiss with a light, wet smack of their lips.

Felix simply nods; his whole body feels light and he regrets that it’s his last night in this bed. “Y-yeah…”

Sylvain winks, and dives back in to finish off the kiss. “Good thing I know how to take care of you, then, huh?”

His tongue is hot but soft, delicately tracing the line of Felix’s lips, pushing in to meet with his own. Felix shudders a moan against Sylvain’s mouth. He’s not even sure how much time passes before Dimitri’s hair is dripping onto his face, hovering behind Sylvain on the bed.

“Enjoying our evening?”

“Hey, babe,” Sylvain says, looking back and hooking his arm around Dimitri’s neck to kiss him next.

Soon, they’re a pile of limbs on the bed, trading kisses, dry humping one another until they’re all spent and lying useless on the bed. Sylvain lies in the middle, Felix hooked under his arm, Dimitri on the other side massaging his head through loose, ginger waves.

“We should definitely come back to Enbarr sometime,” Sylvain says through a drunken smile.

Felix nods, and closes his eyes. He doesn’t even have the energy to voice his agreement, but yes. He’d be happy if they never had to leave this bed again.

* * *

He feels bad that he wakes up before the dawn, and even worse when he sees how comfortable Sylvain and Felix look in bed, their eyes fluttering beneath closed lids, mouths slightly agape and still a little red from the previous night’s make-out session. Dimitri blushes at the memory, but it was a nice way to commemorate their final day in Enbarr, even though they only explored one location during their stay.

But sometimes, the nights are hard, and the ghosts wake him up. It’s not as often as it used to be; he can actually get a full night of sleep in every once in a while, but others…

He can still feel the heat of the fire, the frantic way his heart beat as he tried to call for help, choking on the smoke, the burn in his eye as it caught some of the floating embers.

He closes his eyes, trying to will the memories away. It’s been a little over ten years, now. And though his therapist doubted his logic at first, exploring some of these abandoned locations has helped him cope.

Before, Dimitri could hardly look at a decrepit building without immediately feeling the heat of the flames, but now, he can find a sort of beauty within them. A tale untold.

True, some locations with significant fire damage never really see the reflection of Dimitri’s lens; Felix and Sylvain take over from there. But he finds it his duty to tell the stories left behind, the ones the ghosts would never tell on their own.

He stretches his arms up over his head, wincing at the sound of his back cracking, and carefully slips out of bed, being mindful of the other two, sleeping soundly. He will definitely get the next video polished and posted by the time they leave Enbarr later.

It’s easy for Dimitri to lose track of the time while editing, and even though he’s situated right in front of the window, the dawn seems to elude him. It’s only when a set of arms are draped over his shoulders that he even recognizes the sun in the sky.

“How long have you been up?”

He looks back, pushing aside one of the ears of his headphones, and welcomes Felix’s lips in a kiss.

“A few hours. It was still dark out, didn’t pay attention to the time.”

Felix groans in his throat, but manages to keep his scolding at bay for now. Instead he leans forward, a small smile on his lips. “Video looks good.”

“Thank you! I’m almost done with it,” Dimitri says, rewinding to his favorite shot, panning over the odd industrial chandelier from the hospital and the winding stairs that led to the second level.

He looks back once more; Felix’s eyes are transfixed.

“How’s your head?” He reaches up, brushing his fingers along Felix’s cheek.

A hum rumbles from his lips and he leans into Dimitri’s touch. “Still hurts a bit, better than yesterday.”

“Good,” says Dimitri, placing another kiss right at the crook of Felix’s jaw.

Felix stays there while Dimitri continues to edit, eventually sitting on the arm chair just beside the desk until Sylvain wakes up, ready to go.

“Come on, boys,” he says, already packed up, nearly minutes after waking up. “Let’s get the truck packed! We’ve got those row houses to explore and then it’s a long trip to Hrym. Might not get there until tomorrow.”

“Sylvain, I’m not done editing yet.”

“What?!”

“How about,” Dimitri says slowly, removing his headphones and walking up to Sylvain, “you go out, get some breakfast with Felix, and when you come back, I’ll be all packed up and ready to go.”

Before Sylvain can get a word out, Dimitri kisses him, slow and soft, feeling the red head melt in his arms before he parts to return to editing.

“Good plan,” Sylvain says with a lazy smirk. “Come on, Fe, pack your shit. Let’s get the truck ready, grab a bite, and pick up our prince charming on the way out.”

Felix shrugs, getting out of his seat. “Whatever.”

“Have fun!”

“Thanks babe.”

* * *

Sylvain truly enjoys the streets of Enbarr. He manages to convince Felix to put on a pair of jeans; even though he’s stupidly hot, but Sylvain refuses to have people see him with someone who dresses like they just rolled out of bed. They finish packing up the truck, but they still have about two hours before they have to check out. They decide to slip into a diner around the corner from the hotel, the crowds having now died down from the early morning commuter rush, and find a nice booth in the corner.

The owner is definitely of Dagdan decent, his accent thick in his boisterous tone, as he welcomes them in. Because he apparently knows every person who enters his diner.

“New in town?” His brows waggle as his voice sings his words out.

“Just visiting,” Sylvain says. “Faerghus.”

“Ahh, long way from home! Very chilly, yes?”

Sylvain laughs and nods, glancing over to see Felix buried in his menu.

“Probably snowing up there right now.”

The owner gives an overly exaggerated shiver as he moves aside for the timid waitress to start their order.

“You boys will be very warm here. Bernie will take good care of you, yes?”

She nods, her whole body shaking, and Sylvain wonders if she was asked to take this job on a dare, or perhaps the owner knows her family; she does not seem suited for a job with so many people around.

“Wh-what can I get you started with?” The small pad of paper isn’t big enough for her to hide behind, yet she manages it, only her frizzy bush of purple hair poking out beyond it.

“Two coffees, black. You can leave the cream and sugar on the side. And, uh, Fe, you know what you want?”

“Steak and eggs,” Felix says, in his normal abrasive tone. “Over easy.”

Sylvain tries not to laugh as Bernie’s face goes white when Felix speaks. _Me too, kid. You don’t even know the half of it._

“And I’ll have the small stack of pancakes, side of bacon, thank you.” He takes Felix’s menu and tries to hand them as gently to the waitress as possible, but she squeaks at him.

Wait, did she seriously just squeak? What the fuck?

So she squeaks, like a terrified mouse, and grabs the menus, almost tripping over herself on the way to the kitchen.

“What the fuck is wrong with her?”

Sylvain shrugs, leaning back in the booth and nudging Felix’s leg with the toe of his shoe. “Not everyone is made for food service. Especially someone like you.”

Felix rolls his eyes, folding the corners on his paper place mat for lack of anything else to do. “Six years of retail hell was enough for me, thank you.”

Sylvain winks and moves his foot higher, until Felix grabs a hold of it.

“Don’t.”

“What?”

Felix starts to growl but the owner returns with two coffees and two glasses of water.

“So how’s the new girl? She treat you good?”

“She could use some more time on the floor to get used to humanity, but overall, sweet kid.”

The owner laughs, and Sylvain is thankful they’re in the back of the diner where only a few people are within earshot.

“Yes, yes, a scared one, she is. Her father is the landlord. A favor, to get her used to the world.”

“Sounds cruel,” Felix says, pushing aside the sugar packets and drinking his coffee black.

“It’s all good fun. She won’t last, but yes, very sweet.”

He leaves, once more, and the terrified waitress Bernie seems to be hiding behind a fake plant in some other corner of the diner. Sylvain keeps an eye on her, makes a note to mention their channel to her; she’s totally the reclusive type to like decrepit, crumbling spaces.

After a few more minutes of gentle teasing and the slight fear Sylvain might lose his foot, Bernie comes to their table with their food, shaking horrifically with the tray in her hands. Sylvain helps her, mostly out of pity, and a bit of empathy; he knows the feelings of having a shitty dad forcing him into jobs not to his liking. Or skill set.

He thanks her and before she leaves, gestures her to come over to him.

Her eyes bulge out of her head, but she obeys, seemingly terrified of the prospect of not.

“You seem like the type to hate crowds, yeah?”

“Ooooh, you have no idea…”

“Heh, I have a bit of an idea,” he says under his breath. “So, do you like abandoned shit? Places like hospitals, old schools, historic buildings?”

Immediately, Sylvain can see her shoulders relax and her eyes sparkle with a new appreciation for life.

“Oh, yes!! Very much. I’ve tried to get into the old opera house, but I’m too scared of getting caught by the police.” She speaks almost too fast for Sylvain to catch a word of what she’s saying.

“Have you heard of the Faerghus Lost Boys?”

Her eyes shift to the side for a moment before popping wide once more. “Oh yes! I have! Pretty neat explores, but mostly Faerghus locations, and I’ve lived in Enbarr my whole life, so…”

“Well,” Sylvain says, leaning in but minding his distance because he can tell she’s the type to freak with anything less than a meter between her and the opposite person. “Consider them found.”

Bernie looks confused, but Felix just groans and kicks Sylvain, nearly missing his balls.

“I hate that line,” he growls out, turning over to Bernie. “That’s us, that’s our channel. We’ve been filming in Adrestia these past few days.”

“R-really?!”

“Yeah, really,” Sylvain says in a cough. “In fact, we just did an explore of the opera house yesterday.”

She squeaks again, but it’s much more excitable and it catches a few more ears than the owner’s laugh did.

“You’re kidding?!”

“Not at all, Bernie. Give us a follow if you haven’t already and keep you eyes peeled.”

“Y-yes, I will! And I’ll tell all my friends online!”

She skips off and Sylvain smiles, knowing he brought a little ounce of joy to the girl’s miserable life.

And, of course, one more subscriber closer to one million.

They finish their meal and before they grab the check, they ask for another meal to go — Sylvain hates when Dimitri doesn’t join them for breakfast — and head back to the hotel.

Dimitri is true to his word; video posted, computer packed, and truck already running. After a super speedy check-out and a bill he’d rather not remember, Sylvain piles into the car.

“So the row houses, then off to Hrym, yeah?”

“That’s the plan you made,” Felix says from the backseat.

“Let’s go!!!”

The truck rolls out of the hotel lot and they’re on the streets of the city, watching as the skyscrapers eventually fade and the buildings grow short and smaller and more run down. They’re on the city limits when they come across the telltale sign of low income houses, slim single family homes built without an iota of space between them. Rows upon rows, street upon street. The first few blocks they pass are definitely inhabited, families of Dagdan and Brigid immigrants hanging out on the streets, living the simple lives dealt upon them by the society of Fódlan. It’s a stark contrast to Fhirdiad; where Duscur and Srengi tend mix and meld, there’s a definite border between those who are Adrestian and those who are not.

Not that Faerghus is any better; hardly any Duscur and Srengi culture is alive and thriving up north. But at least the income disparity isn’t this blatant. But it’s still not great.

Soon, the people become more sparse, and the houses begin to look more beaten up and weatherworn. And then they drive up to the last few rows. Completely abandoned.

“Whoa,” Sylvain says, trying to figure out the best place to park with all their shit in the truck bed. True, Dimitri’s lock system is stupid secure, but still. A bunch of white Faerghan boys roaming around the slums of Enbarr. They stick out like sore thumbs, their truck even more so.

He swings it around another block or two before he finds a pretty packed commuter lot. Fade into the masses. Always a good plan.

They make quick work to pack their cameras in backpacks before walking back towards the homes.

The streets are practically empty out this far, nothing but industrial warehouses and vacant lots across from the most derelict of the houses.

Dimitri stares up at the middle few houses, charred remains of what once was, and Sylvain can see that he’s shaking.

“Hey,” he says, an hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have to go in those. Won’t be anything interesting in them anyway.”

Dimitri nods, a relieved sigh expelling from his lungs. “Yes, right. Should we start here, then?”

Sylvain looks to the houses at the end of the row and before they walk across the street, he gets a good look of their surroundings. No people, no cars, and no signs of surveillance. He hopes.

“Let’s go, boys.”

The first house they come up to has a large plank of wood blocking the front door, but the window at the side has been completely smashed in. It’s a pretty easy step off the porch into it, except for Dimitri, who’s too big to properly control his body. As they expect, it’s pretty empty. Wallpaper is peeling, boards of wood are falling out of the ceiling; it’s a mess. They get their cameras ready and start filming as they walk through what they assume is the living room.

“Not much left,” Sylvain says, trying not to sound too disappointed.

“This isn’t the only house, Sylvain,” Dimitri says, ducking low to avoid hitting his head on any fallen ceiling panels.

Felix rummages through his bag and puts on his respirator; Sylvain regrets leaving his in the truck. The smell is unbearable, like something died in the corner years ago and still hasn’t finished decomposing.

The rest of the house isn’t too interesting; they don’t even bother to check the upper floor since the ceiling of the first floor is falling apart, so they slip out the back door, not boarded up, and stop into the next one.

Which is pretty much a repeat of the last. The next few houses are like that, but they’re thankful they can slip into each through the back doors.

They make it to the last house before the fire damage begins and the second Felix walks in, he stops.

“Oh shit.” His camera is up and he disappears. Sylvain and Dimitri follow suit and a smile spreads across Sylvain’s face when he sees it; a fully set table. Dishes, plates, cups, flatware, the works, covered in a film of dust and cobwebs.

The retro refrigerator is open ajar, and Sylvain covers his nose when he spots food left inside. There are raccoon tracks all over the place, but Sylvain can’t understand how they can even stand food that old.

“Wow.” Dimitri — lucky bastard that he is with barely a sense of smell or taste — hangs in the kitchen, filming every detail he can as Sylvain moves into the living room. He gets in as far as he can, couch cushions strewn about and furniture fallen to the floor, hanging between wall corners.

“You think they were evicted on the spot?” Sylvain can see an open door down a hallway with a toilet on the other side; he’ll leave that shot for Felix and Dimitri.

“Who knows? Maybe they fled during the fires next door? Or…”

“You should really stop asking questions like this when you’re the one who’s supposed to do the research, Sylvain.”

“Felix, can you not?” It’s not Sylvain’s fault the records of this area are pretty much lost. Just goes to show how much Enbarr cares about their lower income families. The least they can do as urban explorers is document what was left behind, and perhaps a subscriber will have some insight and share their story. That’s how they find out most of the juicy details, honestly; _after_ the initial explore.

He wraps around a bannister and looks up a set of stairs tentatively; does he dare? Despite being next to homes sporting some of the worst fire damage he has seen, this house is incredibly intact. Maybe it’s a sign that this family was the last to leave the street, but who knows? The stairs look pretty sturdy, and he’s curious about what kind of relics he can find in the bedrooms above.

“Hey, I’m gonna head up stairs!”

Both Felix and Dimitri grunt their approvals from their respective rooms as Sylvain heads up the stairs. He tests each step before firmly placing the rest of his weight on it and is thankful neither of his feet make gaping holes beneath him. It’s a small house, but it looks like there are three bedrooms up on the second, and the first he comes across is a nursery.

His heart sinks at the sight of a mobile hanging from the ceiling, most of the items gone or in shreds. The crib is on its side and moth eaten baby clothes are strewn about the floor.

He gets enough footage of the room before heading to the next one, trying not to think of a scenario where a couple fought over custody to leave this home in such a state.

The next room is pretty innocuous, a standard child’s room; small bed, some creepy toys in the corner, and a bookcase with the shelves bowing in.

After carefully avoid the bathroom — he’s not in the mood to film a sludge covered toilet — he saves the largest room for last. The queen size bed has a massive hole in the middle, springs and stuffing spilling out everywhere. The windows are open and letting in the slightest breeze, blowing the scent of stale air into his nose. It truly is something, to see a house so lived in, lost to time. He gets his final few shots before heading back downstairs, letting the wood creak beneath his feet.

“I got the upstairs,” he calls out, noticing the front door has not been bolted shut.

“I think Felix and I got a lot of good footage down here.”

Felix just gives a simple thumbs up and Sylvain turns for the door. “Great! Let’s get a shot of the street and then get ready to head out.”

As Sylvain opens the door, he spots a familiar looking car passing by; black, foreboding, lettering on the side, and set of lights on the roof, currently blinking to the telltale sound of a siren.

“Shit!” He immediately closes it and ushers Felix and Dimitri back into the kitchen.

“Sylvain, what are you…?”

“The cops, the fucking cops just drove by!”

“Shit, are you serious?” Felix hurries back, but Dimitri is just stunned.

“Yes, I am, go!!!”

He grabs Dimitri by the neck and drags him to the back room as he hears the sirens continue to blare outside; he really hopes they didn’t see him. They shuffle out the back door and crouch low beside the porch steps. Probably not the best idea, but their bodies are still against the house and after several heart racing minutes, the sirens die out and they hear the sound of tires rolling away.

Sylvain lets out a sigh of relief but Felix just smacks him.

“What the hell was that for?”

“Ow, don’t hit me!”

“Felix, it’s okay, we’re fine we…”

Dimitri does not look fine; his face is pale and he’s shaking. Funny how the largest of the three of them is the most scared of the cops, but Sylvain has a hunch it has more to do with the sound of sirens than anything else.

“Let’s, uh, get out of here, yeah?”

They manage to make it back to their truck without any run-ins with the authorities and Felix captures a great shot of the street as Sylvain drives by one last time.

Enbarr is finally behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The row houses of Enbarr are roughly based on the row houses seen in Philadelphia & Baltimore, the latter of which This is Dan Bell on youtube has spent some time exploring. Wanted to show the range of certain locations as well as a modern side and I hope I did so respectfully. I tried.
> 
> Thanks!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the way out of Adrestia, now!
> 
> There's a sex scene in this chapter (one of my personal favorites, actually), but if you're not into that, it starts with “It takes some time for his eyes to adjust” and ends with “Felix regrets not acting on Dimitri’s actions.”
> 
> Enjoy!

Sylvain isn’t kidding when he says the road to Hrym is a long one. They end up stopping for food and gas but have to settle with another shitty motel before they can even reach the edge of Bergliez.

Felix has grown used to their three day stay in Enbarr, not having to spend all his time in the truck; this ride has not been kind to him. He can feel his body crack as he gets out of the truck with his bag hoisted over his shoulder.

“What room?” He groans at Sylvain when he comes back from the front desk, holding a physical key; Felix can’t even believe there are still hotels like this in existence. He really hopes the bed is at least comfortable.

“Uh, right here, actually.”

As luck would have it, their truck is parked right outside their room and Sylvain opens it revealing…exactly what Felix expects. A shitty hotel room.

Honestly, he doesn’t even care. He’s just happy to be out of the car and on a bed. Thankfully, it’s not too shitty and the beds are actually large enough to fit two of them in a one.

“So Felix has that one,” Sylvain says with a smirk as he hops on the other bed.

“Did you get a wifi password? I want to check on the cats, but I don’t wanna drain my data.”

Sylvain flicks over a business card from the hotel with a code scribbled on the back; thank Seiros. Felix needs something to clear his head.

“So Dimitri,” Sylvain says, immediately stripping as Dimitri closes the door and locks it behind him. “How many viewers now? You posted the Hevring video right?”

He nods, checking his phone and sitting right beside Felix’s feet. “Close to eight hundred by now, I think.”

Felix raises his brow and makes a point to check the channel after he sees how the cats are doing.

“Babe, no computer gear?” Sylvain leans along his bed, topless. He’s trying to be sexy, but Felix can see the bags under his eyes from the long drive; he’ll be out like a light any moment now. Felix, too, honestly.

“No,” Dimitri says through an embarrassed smile. “I thought I could just rest for the night.”

“Good,” Felix says, with a little more force than intended. “You need it.”

Dimitri smiles anyway and crawls over to Felix to give him a soft kiss. “Thank you. We all do, I think.”

“Right? One million subscribers is so close, I can almost taste it.”

Felix settles into Dimitri’s arms as they slowly curl around him. He doesn’t remember being this tired in the truck earlier, or even when they parked, but Felix can feel his eyelids grow heavy, and before he can hear or process another word, he’s asleep…

He finds himself awake in the middle of the night, the room pitch dark, wrapped snuggly in the blankets, with an odd noise trickling into his ear. He thinks it slipped into a dream of his, too, one he regrets forgetting since his body has reacted to it. He groans, rolling about in his blanket burrito, when the sound becomes clearer and the realization dawns on him.

It takes some time for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the room, but it’s clear what’s going on in the other bed.

“A-ah! Sylvain~!”

Dimitri’s moans somehow harmonize to the squeaking of the mattress springs, obviously struggling under the weight of the two men.

“Yeah, babe, that’s it,” he can hear Sylvain say, paired with the strident sound of his hand colliding with skin.

“A..ah!”

“Keep going, babe, a-ahh, yeah, that’s good!”

As Felix’s eyes finally adjust to the lack of light, he can see Dimitri perched on top of Sylvain, backwards, slamming his ass repeatedly over Sylvain’s dick as he leans forward, gripping Sylvain’s thighs for support. His enormous dick is slapping up against his stomach as he continues to bounce on Sylvain, small drips of precum shimmering in the stray band of moonlight sneaking in through the blinds.

“F-fuck, Dima, you’re so tight tonight.” Sylvain’s hands grip at Dimitri’s ass, moving him along his dick, forcefully bringing him down to his lap repeatedly. “G-gonna come…!”

“N-no, aah!”

Dimitri’s back arches back, and Felix is impressed by his flexibility, his hair dangling just inches from Sylvain’s nose. He cries out, louder than he means to as he hastily covers his mouth with his hand, and comes over the bedsheets, Sylvain continuing to ride him down over his cock.

“So…close, f-fuck!” Sylvain moans moments later and Felix can tell by the shudder of Dimitri’s shoulders that Sylvain has spilled deep within him.

Their haggard breaths linger in the room before Felix speaks up.

“Are you two done?!”

“F-felix!” Dimitri slips off Sylvain’s dick immediately and Felix tries to look away as he can see a stream of cum spill out of his ass; he shouldn’t be turned on by this, but unfortunately, the sounds of them having sex have already made quite the impact on him. He decides to burrow deeper into his blanket burrito.

“Shit, Fe, did we wake you up?”

Felix flops over, so as to not look at the two of them anymore, and rubs at his thighs to will away his erection, but he only succeeds in exciting himself. He bites back a moan, nearly breaking the skin under his lip; he just wants to go back to sleep.

“N-no, I just…woke up, that’s all.”

“Felix, I’m so sorry, it’s just that…”

“I know, you couldn’t sleep, probably. Whatever!”

Sylvain clicks his tongue. “Now, Fe, that’s no way to talk to your boyfriend.”

“Felix,” Dimitri hums, and Felix shudders when he feels how close Dimitri has gotten. He’s behind him, on the bed — still covered in spend — reaching around to dig Felix out of the burrito. “We didn’t mean to wake you.”

Felix cries out when Dimitri wraps his arms around him.

“I couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”

He’s lying behind Felix now, holding him close against his chest.

“We’ll keep it down next time.” He kisses the back of Felix’s ear after digging it out of the blankets. “Promise.”

“Let him sleep, babe,” Sylvain says. “Let’s just clean up and try to sleep ourselves, yeah?”

“Right.”

Felix regrets not acting on Dimitri’s actions, his heart sinking when his weight leaves the bed, but he’s also still fucking exhausted. Sleep returns to him not long after Sylvain and Dimitri disappear into the bathroom.

* * *

“Are you sure you’re not mad?”

“Yes!” Felix kicks the back of Dimitri’s seat in the truck as if to emphasize his point. “Now shut up about it! You two can fuck whenever you want for whatever reason, so stop apologizing!”

“But we woke you up. Are you sure you’ll be able to…”

“Dimitri,” Sylvain says slowly, his hand on Dimitri’s knee, squeezing tight. “He says it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Unfortunately, Dimitri _has_ been worrying about it, and even after the lovely sex he had with Sylvain to calm his usual nightly nerves, he still found it difficult to fall back asleep. He sighs and leans his head against the window.

“Alright,” he says softly, and the lull of the radio takes over the empty space in the car once again.

He always feels badly about leaving Felix out of moments like that, but even worse if he knows it will disturb him out of a comfortable sleep, only because Dimitri knows how valuable that time is. There’s a light drizzle outside, and the closer they get to the Leicester border, the thicker the forests on the sides of the interstate get. It’s growing darker, too, but Sylvain is determined to get this last explore in before the night is out. They’ve been in the car for a while, and Dimitri wouldn’t mind a chance to stretch his legs, but he also doesn’t want to risk ruining any of their equipment.

Sylvain turns down a narrow dirt path, miles after taking an exit off the interstate. It winds through the trees and underbrush, leaves wiping off stray bits of water and rain drops from the windshield.

Up ahead, there’s a dark, ominous building and Dimitri’s eyes are glued to it growing larger as the night grows darker.

“What the fuck is this place?” Felix is drawn in, too, his head poking out between the front seats.

“An old military prison, apparently. People don’t even know this place exists. I had to do some digging to even know where to find it.”

“Then how _did_ you find it?” Dimitri looks over, concerned, as Sylvain kills the ignition.

“Believe it or not, Mercedes’ brother.”

“Emile?”

Felix laughs and unbuckles his seatbelt. “Makes sense. He’s so fucking weird, he _would_ know about a place like this.”

“And hot,” Sylvain adds. “Weird and hot, a dangerous mixture.”

“Sylvain,” Dimitri adds cautiously. “Be careful. Mercedes has already stated Emile is strictly monogamous.”

Sylvain sighs, sitting back in his seat, dejected. “I know. That Byleth is one lucky fuck.”

“Thanks,” Felix says with an extra hard kick to the back of his seat.

“It’s a joke!”

Sylvain’s voice fades in the distance as Dimitri and Felix hop out of the truck. The rain can’t seem to reach them this deep in the forest, but they still take the necessary precautions when getting their cameras ready.

“It’s so fucking late, Sylvain,” Felix groans as they step over logs and tree branches towards the foreboding structure.

“I know, but it doesn’t fit in with our timeline to see it any other time, so let’s get some cool shots and try not to get murdered by a homeless mob.”

Dimitri shakes his head, but shines the light of his camera on the building, his eyes widening at the sight. Old stone makes up the walls, covered in ivy, moss, and lichen. Its structure seems even older than that of Arianrhod and Merceus; he’s curious how he never heard of such a place before.

“Apparently, the real twisted sickos got locked up here,” Sylvain say, leaves crunching under his feet. “Ones even the Emperor didn’t want near Enbarr.”

Felix huddles in close to Dimitri, keeping a gruff exterior. Dimitri hides his smile; it’s very sweet, honestly. Felix doesn’t need to feign bravery in a place like this. It’s wild and unkempt and the potential for disaster is high. But that’s what they do; break into old places and trespass onto private property, only to film it and photograph it. But even Dimitri isn’t sure what to make of this place. Most of it seems lost to time and elements, but once he steps past a doorway with no door, he can see the rusted metal bars that made up the former jail cells.

“Shit, we got the cells already!”

“There’s not much left here, Sylvain,” Dimitri tries to explain. There’s something eerie about the way his light is shining off the stone; even so deep in the woods, under the cover of trees, the stone walls are wet, dripping with water from the rain. A shiver runs up Dimitri’s spine and he’s thankful that Felix is leaning in closer.

“You said this was a military prison?” Felix is barely even shining his camera’s light around.

“Yup,” Sylvain says, trying to light up as much of the area as possible. “I don’t think it’s been used for hundreds of years, though.”

“Well, there haven’t been that many major wars in a while.” Dimitri steps up to a rotted jail bar; he knows the second he touches it, it will crumble.

“Yeah, even when the continent split back into sovereignties, it was done during peace time.”

“Look at you, Fe! Didn’t think you paid attention in history class all those years ago!”

“Get fucked, Sylvain.”

Sylvain laughs and leans into the two of them. “Is that an offer?”

Felix starts his usual bickering at Sylvain, and Dimitri is about tell them both to be quiet when there’s a loud lurching sound coming from the opposite end of the building.

They all fall into anxious silence, waiting as the sound fades off into nothing but wind rustling up leaves.

“What the fuck?” Felix is the first to move, slowly stepping down what can only be described as a hallway, leading deeper into the abyss of the ruins.

“Felix, wait!” Dimitri grabs the sleeve of his hoodie; he realizes now that he’s shaking. With a heavy swallow, he lets go, smiling awkwardly ahead. “I mean, don’t…go without us.”

“Didn’t plan on it,” Felix says slowly as he continues his cautious steps forward.

Sylvain walks behind Dimitri, the light of his camera casting long shadows ahead of them. “You okay, babe?” His hand is planted firm on Dimitri’s back, moving in small circles.

“Yes,” he lies, swallowing down the anxiety welling within; it does little to settle his nerves, though. The halls in the old prison seem to grow more narrow the deeper they go in and the prison cells seem to come to life, barely touched by the elements. The cell doors swing in the light wind breezing through open holes in the wall, but it doesn’t make sense to Dimitri that the wind could carry this deep within the forest.

He breathes slowly, keeping the light on his camera as steady as he can, making sure Felix doesn’t leave his view. On the floor above, there’s a skittering sound and Dimitri presses his back against the cold stone wall. “What was that?!”

Sylvain and Felix stop, rounding on him.

“Probably rats, Dimitri.” Felix is obviously annoyed, his eyes narrow and his brows knit tight together. “You’re overthinking this place.”

“It’s alright, babe,” Sylvain coos in his ear, but it’s not what Dimitri needs right now. He needs to not be here. This place is too off the grid for his comfort, and the ambiance of the evening paired with the crumbling structure has only heightened his nerves.

But he won’t leave Sylvain and Felix. And they want to explore this place.

It’ll be a while before he’s comfortable editing this footage.

“I’ll be with you the whole time. Hold my hand?”

He’s surprised that Sylvain is still speaking, lost in his own thoughts.

“I’m going ahead,” Felix says, leaving the two of them behind.

“W-wait!”

“Let him go.” Sylvain pets back a few strands of Dimitri’s hair, wet from the rain, and brings him close to his side. “I’ll be with you, okay?”

Dimitri nods, watching as Felix fades into the darkness ahead, the light of his camera bobbing in the hall as it grows smaller and smaller. He wants him to stay back; the three of them should be together through this.

Once Dimitri finally wills himself to move forward, he’s got a vice grip on Sylvain’s hand.

“Ah, I get it,” he says in a small laugh, obviously pained.

“S-sorry, I’m just…”

“I get it, it’s a pretty unsettling place. Not gonna lie, I felt it too, but…”

There’s a loud banging sound that threatens their ears and both of them crouch down to cover their ears. Dimitri huddles in close to Sylvain, biting his lip and begging for the moment to end.

Soon, the banging ebbs away, but it continues to pound in Dimitri’s ears and the sight of Felix walking back towards them is a welcome relief. He darts up to him, wrapping his arms around Felix’s and nearly knocking both their camera’s into the stone walls.

“Sh-shit!” Felix shudders in his hold, but eases as he looks up into Dimitri’s eyes. “Are you really that scared?”

Dimitri sighs; he’s still tense, but holding Felix this close is letting his heart return to a calmer pace. “I just…I don’t like the feel of this place. It unnerves me, I’m…”

“Don’t,” Felix bites out before Dimitri can finish, but he lays his hand around Dimitri’s back. “Don’t apologize, it’s fine. You’ve got me and Sylvain with you, alright? We’ll be fine. Besides, if there is anything out here, I don’t think they’d pick a fight with you.”

He smiles, kissing Felix atop his head. As he looks back, though, his heart begins to race once more.

“Where did Sylvain go?”

Before Felix can answer, both of the lights on their cameras go out.

“What the fuck?” Felix fiddles around in the dark, smacking the side of his camera. “There’s a new bulb in there, how…?”

Dimitri holds up his camera; the low battery light is blinking. He could have sworn he gave them a full charge back in Enbarr; they should still be in working order, even after the row house explore.

He swallows hard and a cold chill breezes past the two of them. Now, even Felix is clutching to Dimitri, darkness closing in. With Sylvain no where to be found, the two men huddle close together.

“This was a bad idea,” Dimitri says, holding Felix close and finding relief in the heat of his breath.

“Sylvain is chock full of them.”

“Hey, that’s not nice!”

A small light bobs in the distance, flickering in and out. Sylvain, hands on his hips and a pout on his lips.

“Sorry about that. Thought I’d check something out while you two were getting intimate.”

Felix starts to growl, ready to bite back a response, but Dimitri is just happy the three of them are together once more.

Sylvain nods over to the two of them, a smirk on his lips. “It seems your cameras stopped working, right?”

Both Felix and Dimitri nod, the glow of Sylvain’s camera light barely lighting up the space.

“Yeah, mine’s dying, too. Emile said that might happen.”

“Why do you think that might be?”

Sylvain lowers his head, the light of his camera casting eerie shadows over his face. “Ghosts.”

Dimitri doesn’t even have time to react before Sylvain bursts into laughter.

“I’m kidding, seriously. Probably has something to do with the fact that the electromagnetic field is really strong here or some shit like that, I don’t know. These cameras didn’t have a full charge when we got here. And we _have_ been here for a while, so…”

“Have we?” While the explore seems like it has lasted a lifetime, Dimitri doesn’t think they’ve seen most of the prison; they’ve only really seen the first floor.

“About an hour or so,” Sylvain says, checking his phone. “Anyway, I’m getting tired. Let’s head back to the truck before my camera goes out too.”

Dimitri is thankful Sylvain’s camera lasts until they make it to the truck. As they all pile in, packing up their gear, a howling wind blows over the prison, leaves shaking and little drops of rain making it through the canopy above to land on top of Dimitri’s head. He swears he can hear a voice, but he tries to shake it off. Hopefully they’ll make it to another hotel soon. Dimitri needs the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The location in this chapter is loosely based off of Jeritza's paired ending with Mercedes in CF. Even though _that_ prison is in Enbarr, I wanted to create one in Hrym in honor of our spooky boy. Also, I just wanted Dimitri to be a lil' scared. Not too much, but...enough.
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're in the first explore of Leicester and I had a lot of fun with this one. No warnings for this chapter (aside from that they're visiting an abandoned Asylum, but I don't go to deep into details as you'll see why), but there are a few cameos & relationship mentions, so I'll update the tags accordingly.

Sylvain figures getting a hotel near Ordelia should be close enough for their next few explores. It takes a little over an hour to cross over the border into Leicester from the prison, and he’s just happy Dimitri has passed out; he thought it would be fine, but obviously the environment was a little much for his anxiety. That’s on Sylvain, and he knows it, so he takes his time searching for a halfway decent hotel that offers King sized beds. With enough luck, he finds a slew of franchise hotels in a large business area. He pulls up into a parking lot and leaves a sleeping Dimitri with Felix.

“I’m gonna check in. We’ll be here a few nights, so I’ll get us a good room, alright?”

Felix gives Sylvain that look that needs no words and he just winks it off before heading into the front office. It’s a standard chain hotel; boring, bland, lots of beige. There’s an attempt at modern minimalism, but there’s nothing that stands out like the hotel from Enbarr. The important thing is that it’s clean.

He books the room for two nights since Leicester is so much smaller than Adrestia and all of the locations are within an hour’s drive from the hotel. He leaves, notices the small café area where breakfast is served, not complimentary, though, which he scoffs at internally; even some of the cheap motels at least offered a continental breakfast.

When he returns to the car, Dimitri is awake, yawning and hanging out the passenger side window.

“Where’s the room?”

“Fifth floor, looks like. Got a king!”

Felix throws his head back and groans in celebration; Sylvain is thankful he can tell the difference in his groans, because otherwise, he’d have half a mind to slap him. Granted, Sylvain will find any reason to slap Felix, but he’ll save that for the bedroom.

“Let’s get our shit up there and pass out for the night.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Dimitri says, beyond exhausted. But even through his exhaustion, he’s able to carry most of their shit up in one trip. Truly the strongest man Sylvain knows, if the red marks on his hand from earlier are any indication.

The room is small, but the bed is nice and comfortable and there’s enough room for Dimitri to set up his computer. Which is good, because those subscriber numbers need to go up.

“Have either of you checked the channel lately?”

“Meant to last night,” Felix says, already bundled in the bed sheets.

“I haven’t looked since posting the hospital video.” Dimitri lugs the computer equipment onto the desk table before sitting in the standard black office chair in the room.

Sylvain unlocks his phone, ignoring messages from Ingrid; as much as he wants to read them, he doesn’t need that headache right now, even though it’s all on him. He really doesn’t need to think about the ramifications of asking out a woman who just ended a three year engagement with “the love of her life.” But he’s super fucking tempted.

Biting back his stupid impulses, he opens up the app to check on their channel and he smiles.

“Inching closer to eight hundred fifty, boys!”

“Damn, really?” Felix crawls over from the top of the bed. “How’s the hospital video doing?”

“Almost a hundred thousand views, that’s not bad!”

“That’s a good paycheck,” Dimitri says, lounging back.

“Lots of comments about people being excited we’re in Adrestia. Hey look, someone suggested the Opera House! They’re in for a pleasant surprise.”

Dimitri gives a light groan, his eyes already fluttering closed. “Not yet, I need to edit and upload Merceus first.”

“Babe,” Sylvain says, walking up to him and running his fingers through those soft blond locks. “Take your time. We’ll get the views and the subscribers.”

Dimitri nods, humming to Sylvain’s fingers on his scalp; this man needs to sleep _now_.

“How about,” Sylvain starts slowly, leaning in to brush his cheek against Dimitri’s, “we get you in that shower and tuck you in real good, huh? That sound nice?”

Dimitri nods, his eyes closed, revealing the dark bags above his cheek bones.

“I’ll get the water started,” Felix says without missing a beat, unraveling himself from the covers and heading into the bathroom.

“Let me strip you down, yeah?”

“You’re so good to me, Sylvain,” Dimitri says in almost a slur. “Except for the whole creepy prison thing.”

Sylvain laughs, pulling Dimitri’s shirt up over his head and staring just a moment too long at his gorgeous body; broad shoulders, nicely toned abs, arms that could crush a man, and those tits. _Damn_ , does Dimitri have a nice, full chest.

The sound of the shower running cues Sylvain to take Dimitri’s hands in his, pulling him up out of the chair and into his arms.

“Do you want me to join you, big cat?”

Dimitri laughs, rubbing his nose against Sylvain’s. “I’ll be good on my own. Just give me a nice welcome to that bed, alright?”

“You’ve got it.”

Felix comes out of the bathroom and leans against the door. “It’s all ready for you.”

“Thank you, Felix.” And Dimitri manages a small kiss on his forehead before heading into the bathroom alone.

“He’s exhausted,” Felix says, flopping back onto the bed and reaching for his phone.

“Can’t blame him. I thought the prison would be cool at night, but…”

“It definitely was. But yeah, not so much for him.”

Sylvain thinks back to earlier that night, the perfect atmosphere for a horror movie and wonders if he made the right choice. Little to no pictures exist on the internet of the place, so their video will be a breakthrough, but there _was_ something a little off about it.

“You didn’t…feel anything creepy about it, did you?”

Felix looks up, amber eyes beautifully framed by thin lashes. “I mean, kinda. But…”

“Yeah. Me too.”

Dimitri’s not long in the shower and once he flops into the center of the bed, both Sylvain and Felix crowd around him and each claim an arm for the night. Tomorrow should be better.

As long as the rumors of the asylum aren’t true...

* * *

There’s nothing better than waking up to the scent of Dimitri, Felix thinks, as sleep starts to fade from his senses. His musk is simply intoxicating, and even though it will do little to motivate him to move from the bed, it’s the best way to start the day. Dimitri’s large arm is wrapped around Felix’s waist, bringing him in close as his chest rises and falls to the rhythm of his breath.

Felix yawns and snuggles in closer to Dimitri’s bare chest, glancing up at his eyes, fluttering gently beneath closed lids. Felix thinks on how gorgeous he is and how lucky he is to have been with him for so long. He blinks some more sleep out of his eyes and turns slowly to see Sylvain in a similar position; tucked under Dimitri’s arm and staring at his face.

“Morning,” Sylvain whispers, practically smothering his mouth against Dimitri’s tit.

Felix just hums in return, moving his fingers to brush against the soft, light hairs across Dimitri’s chest.

“Glad he actually got some sleep last night.” Sylvain leans up to kiss right under Dimitri’s jaw and smiles as the larger man stirs. “Fuck, he’s cute.”

Felix laughs at that, trailing his fingers up and down, watching Dimitri’s skin flutter in response. “Yeah,” he says softly, and as he closes his eyes, Dimitri brings him in closer.

“What…time…?” Dimitri yawns, big and wide, his head falling to the side.

“You awake, babe?” Sylvain runs a finger over Dimitri’s lips, which he absently kisses back.

“Kind of…”

Felix stretches out his back and crawls up Dimitri’s chest, testing his consciousness with a slow, soft kiss.

Dimitri holds him even tighter, kissing him back with lots of spit and tongue. Not the best, but it’ll do.

“Yeah, he’s getting there,” Felix says, wriggling out of his hold and sitting up in the bed. He stretches his arms high over his head, looking down as Dimitri’s eyes finally open. “Morning.”

“Felix,” he says, almost drunkenly, and reaching up to touch his cheek.

“Yup, that’s me, you big oaf.”

Dimitri laughs, but Felix lets Sylvain take over from this point, who has claimed Dimitri’s lips for his own.

“While you two do that,” Felix says, stripping off his briefs, “I’ll be in the shower.”

They both hum in approval, wet sounds echoing in the room.

His shower is quick and Felix returns to Sylvain and Dimitri, pretty much in the same position, still making out unashamedly.

“If you two are going to keep this up, I may as well go for a run.”

“What, you don’t want to join? No fun,” Sylvain says with a pout, sitting up and slipping out of bed.

Dimitri just lies there, lips pink and wet, eyes heavily lidded. He seems to be in better spirits than the night before, and that sets Felix at ease.

“So what’s the plan for today?”

Sylvain, of course, is nude — he rarely sleeps with anything on, but it’s still a little much for Felix to see in the morning — but he slips on a pair of sweat pants and checks out his phone.

“The asylum is about a twenty minute drive from here. I figure, let’s chill for most of the day and head out there around 2 or 3?”

Dimitri sits up on the bed, resting his back on the headboard and grimaces. “I really hope it’s not going be like last night’s explore. I don’t know if I can handle any more potentially haunted locations.”

Sylvain poorly hides his laugh as he falls into the office chair. “It won’t be. There are rumors…”

“What kind?” Dimitri’s voice is cautiously low. Sylvain better not fuck up.

“Standard! Urban legend type of rumors, but apparently it’s a hot spot for tourists and teens.”

Felix rolls his eyes and drops to the foot of the bed. “I thought we agreed to not do any of the tourist trap shit. That’s why we’re not doing Garreg Mach.”

“Not the same thing,” Sylvain says, wagging his finger. “Garreg Mach is not entirely abandoned and they do like historical tours and shit like that. The Ordelia Asylum is completely abandoned, tagged to hell with graffiti, and the type of place kids run off to so they can get drunk, high, and laid.”

“Great.” Dimitri sounds just as disappointed as Felix feels.

“Hey, it’s a hot spot and it’ll get the views. So many of our subscribers have suggested it in the past. It’s iconic. We can’t _not_ go there.”

There’s a silence that hangs in the air; Felix knows Sylvain is trying. He planned their whole trip out, researched every location and mapped out the route. And he hasn’t shut up about the Asylum for the past few months. They have to go, if only to keep Sylvain quiet.

“So what are we doing with the rest of our day?”

Sylvain shrugs. “Chilling? Relaxing? Letting Dimitri edit so we can keep those numbers up.”

“If I keep posting during the trip, we won’t have a lot of material for the next few weeks.”

“Well, you don’t have to post _everything_. Merceus can wait. But the opera house? That shit will get our numbers to skyrocket. You know it.”

Dimitri sighs; Felix doesn’t want him to run himself ragged during this trip, but he looks resigned to follow Sylvain’s logic.

“Yeah,” he says, getting out of bed. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“Besides, who was the one who packed the computer shit anyway?”

“Stop talking, Sylvain.”

“Babe, you know there’s only one way to shut me up.”

“Not true,” Felix butts in. “I can do a lot of things to shut you up.”

“Like?” He gives that sickening brow waggle that grates all of Felix’s nerves.

“Punch you in the stomach, for one.”

“Okay, okay, I meant sexy shit.”

“We know,” Felix and Dimitri say in unison.

Sylvain raises his hands in surrender. “Overruled, I guess. Yikes.”

“Come on,” Felix whines, grabbing a door key. “I’m hungry, let’s get some breakfast.”

The rest of the day is pretty much as Sylvain predicted; they eat, return to the room to fool around, watch some TV, bicker over Dimitri spending too much time editing. Felix is able to get a run in. He also manages to find the fitness center in the hotel; not as impressive as Enbarr’s, but it’s doable in a pinch. It’s after 3 when they load up in the truck to head out to the Asylum.

“Why so late?” Dimitri says, taking the lead and driving this time; Sylvain and Felix both agreed that he can drive for the shorter trips.

“We can get some good golden hour shots. And maybe some spooky night time footage.”

“Yes, because I did so well with that last night.”

Felix decides, for that comment alone, Sylvain should be subjected to the back seat. So he steps in front him, opening the passenger side door and shutting it before Sylvain can get a word out.

“Yo, Fe, not cool.”

“You know what’s not cool? Giving Dimitri a panic attack before he’s supposed to drive.”

Sylvain pouts and crawls into the back seat, his knees almost at his chest. “Fine.”

The ride is quick and scenic; there’s a lot of charm to Leicester, even if this area is mostly suburban sprawl. They wind around a few roads and come upon a pretty expansive public park before the Ordelia Asylum appears behind a gathering of trees. It is surprisingly out in the open.

“Huh, where should we…” Dimitri is looking around.

“Just go back to the park. Public parking is always good,” Sylvain says.

“Alright.” Dimitri turns back and the three of them decide a walk though the woods is nothing new for them. With their gear ready — and fully charged — they start towards the asylum.

The park area is surprisingly empty, but Felix also isn’t sure what day of the week it is. In an area like this, he figured it would be littered with soccer practices and little league games. Granted, he’s thankful for the lack of people, but he still finds it all to be a little off putting.

They enter through the thick gathering of trees and not long after, come across the cracked and grass covered parking lot of the old Asylum.

“When did this place close down?”

“Like thirty years ago,” Sylvain says, holding out his camera. “Shit, this place is a wreck.”

He’s not wrong. It looks even worse than the hospital in Hevring, though it’s definitely an older structure. Almost every window is shattered open and there are rainbows of graffiti on almost every inch of wall. Any wooden board that once blocked off a door or window has fallen to the ground and trees seem to be growing out from inside the building.

“Damn,” Felix says, getting a good shot of one of the trees.

Suddenly, there’s a yell from the left side of the building, out by where the forest practically grows into the building. Dimitri’s head jerks in the direction, and Felix can tell he’s starting to freak out. But once a laugh rings out after it, his shoulders relax and he smiles sadly.

“I guess we’re not alone?”

Sylvain rolls his eyes. “Figures.”

The yell gets louder and closer to them and soon they see a young man with bright blue hair running towards them. Or at least in their general direction.

“Oh cool! Hey, other tourists!”

Sylvain’s face turns nearly as red as his hair, his knuckles turning white around his camera. “Fucking kids,” he says, clearly pissed.

The blue haired guy stops in his tracks and looks back into the woods. “Hey, Linhardt, this is a good spot, yeah!?”

Another man makes his way slowly from the woods, his long green hair trailing behind him. He looks about as done as Sylvain, minus the rage, and behind him emerges a third person.

“Is that…Ashe?”

Dimitri walks towards the group of three, the third of them a slender man with silvery gray hair.

His bright green eyes widen as he stares at them. “Dimitri? Oh wow, what a coincidence!”

“So Ashe knows these idiots?” Sylvain’s looking at Felix as if he has the answers.

“He said he wanted to travel outside of Faerghus…”

Ashe runs towards them, waving his hands over his head. “Sylvain, Felix! How are you?”

“Can you keep it down? Goddess Almighty,” Sylvain barks as he joins Ashe and his two boyfriends.

“Wait, Ashe, you know these guys?” The blue haired guy looks between Ashe and the trio.

Ashe simply smiles, moving in to hug Dimitri and Sylvain; he stops at Felix and waves, thankfully.

“Yes! They’re good friends of mine actually. Dimitri and I have a lot in common.”

“That’s a weird way to say you dated the same guy,” Sylvain says with a smirk.

Ashe blushes but something seems to dawn on the blue haired one. “Wait, Dedue?! You know Dedue?”

“Dude, you really need to keep it down, we’re next to a public park. Ashe, does he know anything about urban exploration?”

The blue haired guy makes a face. “Um, first of all, it’s Caspar, not dude. And second of all, wait, what?”

Felix groans and rolls his eyes. “You all have fun, I have a building to film.”

“Caspar, these are my friends with the urbex channel. They’re on a road trip filming all different sorts of abandoned places.”

“Yup,” Sylvain says, grabbing the back of Felix’s collar before he can go too far. “We’re on our way to one million subscribers.”

Caspar’s eyes widen and eventually, their other friend joins the group.

“What’s going on?”

This guy looks like he rolled out of bed and into the forest; it’s not a good look.

“Linhardt, these are my friends! Dimitri, Sylvain, Felix; they’re about to film the asylum for their urbex channel!”

Linhardt smiles and looks up at the building. “Interesting. We’re going to film Caspar attempting to fight the ghosts and then stay the night.”

“I’m gonna break the record for longest overnight stay here.”

Sylvain smirks. “Bet this place had a lot of patients who were stuck here for years, so good luck trying to break that record! And keep it down, will you?”

He gestures with his hand and Dimitri and Felix follow him into the asylum through a gaping hole that may have been a door at some point. Ashe waves them off from the distance, returning to his weird, new friends.

“I’m glad to see Ashe is doing well,” Dimitri says, ducking under a low branch hanging over the hole-door.

“Yeah, his friends or whatever are…”

“Annoying,” Felix says without hesitation.

“They knew Dedue.” Sylvain turns his camera on, lighting the dark, narrow hallway that leads into the inner workings of the asylum.

“Well, he has a pretty prominent cooking channel, and they _are_ dating.”

“Wait,” Sylvain stops in his tracks and stares at Dimitri. “I thought they broke up.”

Felix groans; he just wants to continue with the explore, not get lost in idle gossip. “They’re on a break, Sylvain. Like how Dimitri and I were when you barreled into our lives.”

Dimitri gives an awkward laugh at that, following Sylvain cautiously as he continues to move down the hall.

“Yes, just for a bit. Dedue got busy with the channel and Ashe said he wanted to travel a bit, so…”

“And meet some interesting people, it seems like.”

Dimitri looks over his shoulder. “Yes, they were, ah…”

“ _Annoying_ ,” Felix says once more. “Can we please continue with the explore?”

“Yes, Felix, I think that’s a good idea.”

The make their way down the hall, which doesn’t stay dark for long. They curve along with it, the sun streaming in from open doors and cracked windows and lighting their way. It’s incredibly vandalized, crude tags around every corner and any remaining medical equipment has been absolutely trashed. It’s honestly a shame that the place has become a hotbed for obnoxious teen activity. So much of what it once was is gone. Though, according to Sylvain’s research, it had an awful reputation for mistreating its patients, so perhaps this is the fate the asylum deserves.

They come across their first stairwell, surround by what looks like a cage.

“That’s fucking weird,” Felix says, zooming in on the odd structure.

“Felix,” Dimitri whines, “can you please not curse? It’s such a pain to edit out.”

“Just bleep me, whatever.”

They climb the stairs and Felix gets an awesome wrap around shot of the stairwell. On the second floor, they hear an odd echo, but Felix figures it’s probably another obnoxious group of teens.

“Shit, more people?” Even Sylvain sounds exhausted having to deal with more unwanted guests.

As their voices echo down the hall, the sounds stop, immediately followed by a very loud and high pitched voice yelling, “did you hear something?!”

Felix groans and rolls his eyes. “This place is ridiculous.”

Dimitri takes a cautious step, but Felix is relieved to find that he looks a lot more at ease than the previous night.

“I wonder…”

Sylvain, instead, just marches down the hall. When he stops in front of one of the room doors, there’s a scream, high-pitched like a child, that makes Dimitri and Felix cover their ears.

“What the fuck?”

Sylvain shakes his head. “Just more teenagers,” he calls back.

“Go away!” The high pitched voice screams at him and Dimitri and Felix dare to walk closer. As they near the door, they peek their heads in and find three people surrounded by candles, huddled around what looks like a ouija board. The one responsible for the high pitched noises is a small girl with shock white hair.

“We’re not teenagers!” she screeches out. “We’re doing something very important, so if you don’t mind!”

“Lysithea, it’s okay,” a dark haired boy says, trying to calm his friends down.

“No, it’s not, Cyril! These assholes came in here and ruined our seance!”

“We haven’t really started,” a meek, blue haired young woman says, raising her hands up in an attempt to calm down her friend. “It’s not dark enough yet.”

“That’s not the point, Marianne!”

“If you three don’t mind,” Sylvain says, interjecting, “keep it quiet. We’re trying to film in here and if you make all this noise, it’s the authorities you’re going to alert, not the ghosts.”

The girl, Lysithea apparently, shivers at the word ghosts, but stands her ground anyway. “We’re not the ones making noise in here.”

“Whatever,” Sylvain says with an eye roll. “Definitely didn’t expect all this excitement.” He continues walking down the hall, leaving the amateur ghost hunters behind.

“Why are they doing a seance in the middle of the day?”

Sylvain shrugs and points his camera down the hall. “I don’t fucking know, Fe.”

“If they want to contact spirits, they should head down to Hrym,” Dimitri says with a shiver.

Felix just smiles and grabs Dimitri’s hand, kissing him on the cheek. “Yeah, that’d be funny to watch.”

Dimitri nods off his comment but leans into his hold nonetheless. They manage to make it through the rest of the hall — and the explore, thank the Goddess — without finding anyone else trying to contact the dead or whatever the hell that Caspar guy is trying to do. They make it to the roof and get some pretty incredible shots of the park and woods from above. If it weren’t for the nonsensical appeal to teenagers and idiots, this place would be incredibly relaxing and serene. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

“Should we head back?” Sylvain finally breaks the silence as they stay on the roof to watch the sunset, discarding their cameras to the side as they just enjoy the moment together.

“Yes,” Dimitri says, his smile serene. “That would be nice.”

They don’t see the amateur ghost hunters on their way out, but they do find Ashe and his friends, bidding him one last farewell before they head back to the truck.

“I’ll make sure Caspar blasts your channel somewhere in his video,” he calls out with a smile. “Good luck reaching one million!”

Sylvain laughs after they load up the truck, shaking his head as he pushes Felix to the backseat; Felix doesn’t really care anymore. “You really think that guy has a following?”

Dimitri shrugs, starting the truck and pulling out of the simple public parking lot. “Any following that hasn’t heard of us yet is good for the channel, don’t you think?”

Felix nods, but stays quiet in the back seat, watching the nanny cam footage of his cats and trying not to think about the amount of people who will be watching his videos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asylums are by far the most popular (or rather infamous) of abandoned locations. So many of them were built in the US throughout the 19th century and they all fell to ruin after over crowded and other horrible truths were revealed about them. The reason I chose this type of location for Ordelia is mostly due to the experiments Lysithea endures in the canon of the game (not in this AU, she's just a silly kid who wants to face her fears of ghosts, lol). But I also wanted to touch on their popularity among kids/teens as "local urban legends." So the explore is not as fun due to silly shenanigans such as the ones in this chapter, haha.
> 
> Also, "big cat" is 100% a reference to the Game Grumps, haha. I couldn't resist.
> 
> Thank you so much for sticking around and reading. One of my favorite locations (and cameos, haha) are up in the next chapter! Stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was considering shifting my posting for this fic during Dimilix Week but then that would mean having to shift it for next week, too, and then the FOLLOWING weekend is Bottomirti weekend and I just. 
> 
> Whatever, lol. I wanna keep it consistent.
> 
> My favorite cameos are in this chapter. The stupidest situation I could put them in, lol.
> 
> Sex scene in this chapter! If you wanna skip it, it starts with “You know what will be good for the channel?” and ends on “I don’t ever want to clean up a sight like this.”
> 
> Enjoy!

Felix is lying on his stomach, playing some dumb game, the hum of the TV slowly affecting his choices. Sylvain is beside him, changing channels, not paying attention. It’s irritating, to say the least, and the sound of Dimitri clicking away on the computer isn’t helping.

They’re taking it easy today, since their next planned explore is an old hotel in Gloucester and they want to catch it right before they head up for Derdriu. So it’s a chill kind of day.

And it’s eating away at Felix’s patience.

“Are you done?” He snaps, turning his head back to glare at Sylvain.

Sylvain’s mouth is open, eyes locked on Felix, his finger still clicking through channels on the remote.

He has no response.

Felix grumbles under his breath, crawling over to snatch the remote out of Sylvain’s hands. “You’re driving me up a wall with the channel changing shit.”

Sylvain’s smirk turns devious and he holds the remote high over his head, out of Felix’s reach. “Come and get it, Fe!”

“You fucker,” Felix yells, crawling up over Sylvain to get the remote, but Sylvain flips him over and pins him down, laughing like the moron his is.

“Can’t get it, can you?”

“Fuck you, Sylvain, just give it…”

“Excuse me,” Dimitri’s voice booms from the corner of the room; a gorgeous still shot of the opera house is on the monitor. “Could you two perhaps do this elsewhere? I’m trying to concentrate on this video.”

“Sorry, babe,” Sylvain laughs out, sitting back up against the bed. “You know how fun it is to tease Felix.”

Felix huffs and sits up beside Sylvain, but after the calm settles in, he darts over to grab the remote and they resume their wrestling match, Felix screaming and Sylvain laughing like a maniac.

“Alright! That’s enough!” Dimitri is standing over the bed, his eyes dark.

Felix is only slightly scared and a little turned on; he loves when Dimitri gets rough like this.

Sylvain raises his hands, turning off the TV and setting the remote down.

“How about,” he starts, standing up beside Dimitri and placing his hands on his shoulders, “Felix and I go out and pick up some lunch?”

A smile spreads across Dimitri’s face. He nods and returns to his work. “That sounds lovely, thank you.”

“Come on, Fe,” Sylvain says, grabbing the keys to the truck, a hotel key card, and Felix’s unwilling hand. He pulls him out of the room with no shoes and whisks him off towards the elevator.

“Wait, no, I don’t want to go with you, Sylvain!”

Sylvain presses the button for the lobby and they start heading down.

“I’m not even wearing any shoes! What gives?”

Sylvain just smirks, leaning against the elevator wall. He’s disgustingly smug in this moment and Felix simultaneously wants to punch it and kiss it off his face. “Why does that matter? Just stay in the truck while I get some food. Or even better, drive-thru! Besides, I think Dimitri could use the alone time to focus.”

Felix rolls his eyes, resigned to his fate; at least he has his phone with him.

After they get into the truck, Felix brushes rocks and small pieces of gravel off his socks, propping his feet onto the dashboard.

“Hey, can you not?” Sylvain reaches over to knock his feet down, but Felix just slaps his hand away.

“Don’t,” he says, flashing a warning look.

“Oh,” Sylvain sings back, pulling out of the parking lot and heading onto the road. “You’re feisty today.”

“Shut up.” Felix flips his hood up and slinks low in the seat, ignoring the beeping coming from the truck telling him to buckle up. They’re in the suburbs. He’ll be fine.

Leicester is boring, at least this area is. Granted, Adrestia was full of wide open deserts, but Leicester is a middle-class nightmare. Cookie cutter homes, lawns that are artificially green; he’s sure there’s an oversized shopping mall somewhere in the area.

And that’s when it hits him.

He frenetically types into the search bar of his phone’s internet browser and smiles when he finds it.

“Sylvain,” he says, breaking up the silence of the car. “There’s a dead mall nearby.”

“Hmm? What was that babe?”

“In Goneril. Fódlan Hills Mall. It’s…we should check it out.”

Sylvain’s silent for a moment as he turns into the lot of a fast food joint. “We do abandoned shit, though, Fe. Not…”

“But it _is_ abandoned. Most of it is. I keep telling you and Dimitri, dead malls will make great videos. They’re eerie because they’re still open, but they’re stuck in the past. Like purgatory. We should go later today since we’re doing fuck all anyway.”

He pulls the car up to the intercom, and begins his order.

“Hey, babe, what do you want?”

“I want you to fucking listen to me, asshole!”

“I’m ordering food right now, Fe!”

Felix grumbles and returns to his gremlin like position in the passenger’s seat. “Burger. Double.”

Sylvain throws him a wink, finishes his order, and pulls up the truck a few feet, allowing Felix to continue his rant.

“We’re going to this dead mall, Sylvain.” He shoves the phone in Sylvain’s face as he finally pulls up to the pick up window.

“Felix! Come on, Seiros’ tits!”

“Uh, you two okay in there?”

The red haired fast food employee is staring at them, holding out a brown paper bag and a tray of beverages while her hazel eyes are open wide.

Sylvain pushes Felix out of the way as he takes the bag and gives her his card.

“He’s just being an idiot, miss…uh, Leonie! Nice name. Don’t worry about it.”

“Have you ever been to the Fódlan Hills Mall?!” Felix is practically climbing over Sylvain, trying to desperately get someone to agree with him on this.

“Yeah, used to work there for years,” Leonie says, tapping on her register before returning Sylvain’s card with his drinks. “It’s like a ghost town. Super creepy, if you ask me. No clue why it’s still open.”

Sylvain’s eyes are wide and Felix can tell he’s close to snapping. But he doesn’t care. If Sylvain wants one million subscribers so badly, then a dead mall explore is the answer.

“That’s all I needed.”

“Uh, anytime!” She waves them off and Sylvain pretty much speeds out of the lot onto the main road.

“What is with you today, Fe? You’re like…super annoying.”

“ _I’m_ annoying?” Felix punches his straw through the lid to his soda and sucks down a big gulp. “You’re the one who was flipping around the TV sending me into a craze earlier.”

“So what, this is your revenge? Bitching about our next location?”

“It’ll be good for the channel?”

“You know what will be good for the channel?” Sylvain’s voice gets low as he pulls off the road and parks the truck among a gathering of trees. He turns off the ignition and reaches over to grab the back of Felix’s neck, pulling him in for a rough kiss.

Felix fumbles, squeezing his soda until some of it spills out of the lid.

Sylvain laughs against his lips and pulls back. “You’re gonna have to clean that up.”

“F-fuck you,” he spits out, flicking the soda droplets off his hand.

“Back seat,” Sylvain orders. “Now.”

“What? No, if you want to get off, why don’t you just…”

“Fine,” Sylvain says with a shrug and climbs over to situate himself on Felix’s lap. “Front seat, but it won’t be comfortable.”

Felix’s eyes widen as he feels Sylvain’s cock, hard in his jeans. “How is it that you have one mode and it’s always horny?”

“Shut up, Fe.” He slams his mouth against Felix’s once more, hungry and desperate, his tongue slipping in and exploring deep.

Felix sputters but it doesn’t take long before he feels his own dick pulse and he’s pissed about that. How is Sylvain so good at this?

Suddenly, the seat slams back and Sylvain is hovering over Felix, one hand unzipping his fly while the other holds him up steady. There’s a look in his eye that tells Felix, “this is happening. Get ready.” His unleashes his cock with a moan and starts the stroke it as he dives in for another messy kiss.

Felix squirms beneath him, desperately grabbing his own dick as it grows harder; he grimaces against Sylvain's mouth when he grabs hold of it, his hand sticky from the stray droplets of soda.

Sylvain slaps his hand away, and Felix moans in protest before Sylvain grabs his pants and wiggles them off his legs. He throws them into the back of the truck and grabs hold of Felix’s thighs, pressing them forward so his ankles can rest on Sylvain’s shoulders.

“Where,” Felix starts, already out of breath. “Where the fuck did you park us?”

“Side of the road,” Sylvain says, kissing along Felix’s knees. “We’re in the trees, it’s all good.”

Felix whines and tosses his head back; he writhes under Sylvain’s hold, desperate to have him inside and equally wanting to not get caught.

“You’re…a fucking idiot.”

“Shut up, Fe,” he says, slipping a thin bottle out from the back of his pants, and slicking up his fingers. “Sometimes you can be so annoying, it makes me want to _not_ fuck you.”

Felix growls and nearly kicks Sylvain, but his hold on Felix’s legs is tight and secure.

He smirks, leaning in close and running his lubed up fingers over Felix’s fidgeting hole. “But I will. Right now. Because, fuck, do I want you to shut up.”

Sylvain presses in and Felix’s head rolls back, his back arching up off the seat. It feels good, Sylvain’s fingers gliding in and out of him, stretching him open. He wants more but resists the urge to fuck himself on Sylvain’s hand; he doesn’t want the truck to rock so much and catch the attention of some stupid dog walker or a house wife out on her power walk. Suburbs love a good scandal, and a couple of gay guys from Faerghus wildly having sex in a truck is just the kind of shit they’d love to talk about.

Not that it matters, really. They’ll be gone in a few days. But still.

“You’re extra greedy today, aren’t you, Fe?” Sylvain licks his lips. His body is rocking along to the rhythm of his fingers in Felix. “Sucking me right up.”

Felix hates Sylvain’s dirty talk. He can feel the heat from his face reach down to his chest, and all he wants is Sylvain’s dick. His fingers aren’t enough right now.

“You’re…so embarrassing with that shit,” he whines, rolling his hips over Sylvain’s hand. “Just fuck me already.”

Clicking his tongue, Sylvain continues to run just two of his fingers in and out of Felix, painfully slow. “You don’t get what you want when you say it like that, babe.”

“Are you…?” Felix bites his lip. He truly wonders why he even dates this guy sometimes. Swallowing his pride, Felix steadies himself and looks right into Sylvain’s eyes. “Please.”

Sylvain lifts a brow; still just two fingers, and honestly it’s getting boring.

Felix groans, nearly shaking from this nonsense. “Please. Fuck me. Sylvain.”

Like a miracle, Sylvain finally adds a third finger and pushes in deep enough to press Felix where he wants. He cries out, throwing his head back and rocking against Sylvain’s hand. “F-fuck, yes!!”

“Don’t worry babe.” Sylvain sounds pained and Felix wonders why he does all this shit if he just wants to get off, too; fucking masochist. “I’ll be in shortly.”

“Don’t…say it like that, a-ah!”

Sylvain laughs and continues to stretch Felix open. “Aw, babe, you know I like to go in all the way.”

Felix starts to thrash his legs the longer Sylvain talks, taking away from time that could be spent doing anything else.

“Hey, be nice! Don’t make me…”

He thrusts his cock in, hard and deep, his body shuddering as he does so.

Felix chokes out a moan, a dribble of spit hanging off his lips. It’s all too much, at once, and yet his body still craves more, his chest tight, unable to move.

Sylvain moans and slowly moves until he’s full inside Felix. His eyes roll back, hands gripped tight below Felix’s knees. “You feel so good, Fe.”

At the sound of his voice, Felix clenches hard around Sylvain, causing him to cry out, his hand slipping off Felix’s leg.

“C-can you move?”

“Don’t clench like that, shit!”

Felix smirks, leaning back against the seat. “You like it when _Dimitri_ gets tight.”

“Th-that’s…”

He clenches once more and Sylvain throws his head back. When he reels back, he has a devilish look in his eyes. “Fine, bitch,” he says, grabbing Felix’s ankles and beginning the thrust with a vengeance.

Felix cries out, the only thing keeping him from rolling off the end of the seat being Sylvain, burying himself deep inside before slipping out to thrust in again, hard. Felix’s dick remains untouched, bobbing about against Sylvain’s stomach and the front of Felix’s hoodie. But he knows Sylvain takes pride in getting his lovers off without touching them. Fucking idiot.

He continues his manic thrusting, barely even hitting Felix’s prostate, and he’s beginning to rub raw against the rim of Felix’s hole. He always keeps the shitty lube in his back pocket.

“Fuck, Sylvain!!” He’s begging, his dick swelling with need and his body writhing in the small space of the car seat.

Suddenly, Sylvain slams inside him, a jolt shooting up Felix’s spine and exploding out his mouth in a revived moan.

“Th-there, fuck, Sylvain, please!”

“Yeah, I’ve got you, babe,” he says, voice low and husky, enough to send more shivers through Felix’s body. His shirt is drenched in sweat, a small bead running across his brow and dripping down the side of his head.

The more he slams into Felix, the closer Felix can feel himself reaching release. Pathetically, he lifts his arms, gripping the side of Sylvain’s face.

“Syl…vain,” he moans out, pulling him down for a messy kiss.

Sylvain gasps against his mouth, rhythm losing its set tempo, growing more erratic, less precise. Biting at Felix’s lip, his breath is hot and Felix desperately wants to tear his hoodie away. Sylvain seems to read his mind, pulling it up and only breaking from Felix’s mouth to pull it over his head. One of his hands flies from Felix’s ankle and he runs it up Felix’s chest, grabbing a fistful of flesh at his chest, fingers busily working at his nipple.

“A-ah, c-close!!”

Sylvain’s mouth is latched on his neck, his nose nudging up at this ear. “Yeah, me…too…”

Tired thrusts gain more momentum as Sylvain nears his edge and soon, he’s spilling into Felix. The warm burst inside is enough to send Felix over the edge, Sylvain fucking him thoroughly until they both reach completion.

Sylvain’s breath is hitched, caught in his throat as he falls against Felix. It’s horribly uncomfortable; hot, wet, sticky, and limbs pressed against his chest. His foot is against the window when he smirks and leans his head back. “Are you…gonna clean this up?”

“Sh-shut up, Fe,” he whines, sitting up and only smirking when his eyes scan Felix over. “I don’t ever want to clean up a sight like this.”

One foot to his chest is enough to shut Sylvain right up and the two them use his sweat soaked shirt to clean up what they can. (“I don’t mind walking around topless in the fall, I’m from Faerghus.”)

Once they’re cleaned up and Felix is back in his clothes, they make their way back to the hotel, with one thought on their minds:

They sure hope the food hasn’t gotten cold.

* * *

It’s the first bout of calm and serenity Dimitri has experienced since before they embarked on this road trip. For as much as he loves his boyfriends, they can surely bring about some awful headaches with their antics. He’s confident he’ll be able to finish the opera house video, if not by the end of the night, then definitely by the following day. He can imagine how quickly it will push their channel closer to one million subscribers, and his heart feels light at that thought.

“Oh, that’s right!”

He reaches for his phone and pulls up his message history with Dedue.

_Thanks so much for the shout out on your video! Our numbers are growing by the day._

He hits send and goes back to his editing, searching for the best ambient noise to set in the background. Something melancholy, he thinks. He remembers the way Manuela had spoken about the theatre, like a long lost love. It aches inside him and he wants to do the location justice. He’s also sure to double check his research for the voice over bits in the beginning. Maybe he’ll have Sylvain read those; his voice is better suited for them, anyway.

He feels the vibration of his phone and looks down at Dedue’s response.

_My pleasure. I do hope you are enjoying the trip across Fódlan._

Dimitri smiles, his heart swelling just a bit; it was nice to have Dedue within the polycule, but after a few months, Dedue realized the polyamory life style wasn’t for him, and called it off. It hurt at first, but Dedue had told Dimitri he still had feelings for him. In the end, that was the hardest hurdle.

“I still value our friendship and am glad to have met you.” The words haunt him and comfort him equally, but he, too, is thankful for the same.

_Yes, we are! We even ran into Ashe!_

Dimitri is left on read for a while; he hopes he hasn’t hit a sore spot with Dedue. He reaches down, eager to type out something to diffuse the tension, but Dedue beats him to it.

_He had mentioned that, yes._

Dimitri swallows hard, remembering the months he and Felix had taken their “break.”

_Are you two…_

He begins to type, but again, Dedue is faster than him. Perhaps he’s using speech to text?

_He eagerly awaits for us to be reunited. Apparently he has lots of stories to share._

Dimitri smiles again; he knows how happy Dedue has been with Ashe, and at the end of the day, he wishes for nothing more than Dedue’s happiness. He simply sends off a flurry of smiling and heart emojis before returning to his work, only to be interrupted by Sylvain and Felix, bursting into the door in the middle of what sounds like another argument.

“Of course they’re going to stare, look at you!”

Sylvain is topless and Dimitri wishes he could find that alarming. He removes one side of his headphones and raises a brow.

“Welcome back?”

“Hey, babe, we got you food!”

Sylvain is aglow and Dimitri can smell the sweat and sex on him. Makes sense.

“Sorry if it’s cold,” Felix mumbles, a burger in his mouth as he plops onto the bed.

“No crumbs!” Sylvain yells at him, but Felix growls back at him.

“I take it you two had fun,” he says, taking the greasy bag and setting it beside him.

“We promise to clean up the truck real good!”

Felix leans back against the pillow, phone in front of his face. “Sylvain will clean up. It’s his fault anyway.”

“Don’t fucking start with me, Fe…”

“Please!” Dimitri yells out, his voice filling the room. “Not again. I’m almost done here, so…”

“Wait,” Felix cries out, crawling over and showing Dimitri his phone. “Can we check out this dead mall tonight?”

Dimitri tilts his head at the image on the screen of Felix’s phone. “Fódlan Hills Mall? Four anchors, 3 abandoned.”

Felix nods, taking his phone back and scrolling through. “It’s apparently super creepy.”

“Yes, but it’s still open, technically not abandoned.”

“ _That’s_ the good thing about it, Sylvain,” Felix says, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “No trespassing required. It’s abandoned but not. Like I said, purgatory.”

Dimitri turns back to the image on his screen; decaying, derelict, the remains of something forgotten. A dead mall doesn’t truly represent that, but…

“I do like the idea of not breaking the law to get to it.”

“Yeah, but if it’s still open, I bet they have rules against filming.”

“Who cares?” Felix spits out, flying back to the pillows and scrolling through his phone. “If the place is that empty, no one will bother us.”

Sylvain just shrugs, walking off to the bathroom. “Whatever, you two decide. I’m going to take a shower.”

Dimitri shakes his head, but his smile remains. “You really want to go, huh?”

Felix nods, a sort of melancholy hanging over his shoulders. “I think it would be interesting. And it might grab the attention of people who used to shop or work there. A barely living relic.”

Those last few words hold Dimitri’s attention. It’s true that they normally tour truly abandoned locations, lost to time and the elements. But their channel name, Faerghus Lost Boys, denotes something particular: _lost_. Even if it’s still open, a shopping center barely clinging to life still qualifies. So lost, it’s unsure what time it’s in.

“Alright,” he says, reaching into the fast food bag to finally grab his lunch. “How far away is it?”

Felix’s smile is small, but it’s enough to light a fire in Dimitri’s chest. “About a half hour, forty-five minutes away.”

He takes a bite, chews thoughtfully. “So,” he says, after a hearty swallow, “let me continue editing. You can shower…”

Felix blushes at that.

“…and then we can head out for the mall. If it’s night time, perhaps any security will have gone home for the night.”

“If they can still afford to have mall security,” Felix says, laughing through his nose.

Dimitri shakes his head, a loving gesture, before returning to his meal and the video at hand.

After a few more hours of hotel lounging, they gather in the truck — Dimitri double checks the seat before he sits after Sylvain tells him of the details of their lunch run — and head out for the Fódlan Hills Mall.

A former hotspot for shoppers coming in from Almyra, their quick research shows that gang related violence over the years turned shoppers away and sent them to newer and safer options out in Gloucester and Ordelia. Slowly, the stores shuttered, leaving only a few open.

“It says the last anchor is set to close in the next few months,” Felix reads. “So it’s pretty much done for.”

“Take another trip after it completely shuts down? That’d be cool: a before and after video,” Sylvain suggests, winding down the highway towards the mall.

“That’s an excellent idea, Sylvain,” Dimitri smiles, rubbing his hand against Sylvain’s thigh.

“Keep that up and I might just have to have _you_ on that seat next.” He winks and Dimitri jerks his hand away. The thought of squeezing into this small area of the truck for such a thing does not sit well with Dimitri.

“How about we just use the bed in the hotel room tonight, yes?”

Sylvain laughs with a wink as he pulls off the highway. “It’s a date, babe.”

They wind through more suburbs, Goneril just as filled with them as Ordelia, though the houses are a bit more spaced out here. Eventually, the trees peel away and the road becomes cracked, bits of grass and weeds poking out from underneath. It’s leading to a goliath structure, a hideous gray slab of a building that can only be the mall. There seem to be no cars in the the first lot they see, one attached to an abandoned anchor. Felix is pressed against the window; Dimitri knows how much he loves a good label scar.

Sylvain swings into the main mall road, bumps along the way as they round onto the only remaining anchor store, _Valentine’s_. The bright pink sign is flashing pathetically, as if it needed new bulbs years ago. Beside the doors as they drive closer are bright red and yellow signs that read STORE CLOSING. EVERYTHING MUST GO.

It’s eerie as they see only a handful of cars sitting in the parking lot.

“Shit, Fe, you weren’t kidding,” Sylvain says, parking next to an obnoxiously purple sports car with a vanity plate that reads GLCSTR.

The step out of the truck and bring their backpacks, just in case some old security guard, living out their career until the closing mall forces them into retirement, comes across their path. Felix is already filming and Dimitri can see the smile growing across his face.

“Right? It’s creepy.”

“Should we go in through the department store? Or maybe one of the side entrances.”

“Department store,” Sylvain suggests, getting his own shots of the practically empty parking lot. “Bet there’s a lot of naked mannequins. That’ll be off putting.”

Felix shakes his head but starts walking towards the entrance to the store, his camera on and hanging carefully around his shoulders; discretion is key in a place like this.

Dimitri and Sylvain follow, closing the distance and darting their heads around, on the look out for any security vehicles. It’s weird to feel confident about where they parked, to be walking into an open building. But when the automatic doors screech open and welcome them to a partially barren sales floor, Dimitri’s jaw drops.

“Wow.”

“Holy shit!” Sylvain almost sounds giddy, zooming in on fixtures that have bright yellow sales stickers on them. “This is fucking wild, Fe!”

“I know, I know! Come on, I don’t want to spend too much time in here.”

“But this is good shit!”

Felix rolls his eyes, walking past a sales woman, leaning against a counter; she looks five seconds from passing out and Dimitri wonders if he should offer to buy her a coffee. He shakes the thought out of his head and follows Felix into the main section of the mall. His eyes widen at the mismatched tiles and color work around the area that screams three decades old.

Sylvain is just as flabbergasted as before. “Talk about a time capsule, this place is sad.”

“Yes, I know, that’s the appeal of a dead mall.”

Around them are stores that can’t be chains, only off-brand attempts by small business owners, taking advantage of severely reduced rent in a dying location. Beside those stores are shuttered gates.

Sylvain’s holding his nose, not walking too close to the gates and Dimitri is thankful for his dead senses; he can never smell the mold in these old locations.

“Shit, that’s rank.”

Felix nods, scanning his camera across the mall hallway, walking up the occasional shuttered store to peak into what once was.

“Holiday decorations,” he says and when Dimitri walks up, he sees a discarded tree and tinsel about the empty store.

“I think I get it, Fe,” Sylvain says, pointing his camera at the weird, geometric ceiling fixtures. “This is bizarre. And it’s just been like this for years?”

Felix nods, walking over to the next store, keeping his pace slow. “Yup.”

“Be sure to get our good side, Hubert!” There’s a loud, resonate voice booming down the hall and all three of them turn their heads.

“Who the fuck…?”

“Yes, good, now get one with Lorenz and me _in_ the fountain.”

The three of them are staring at each other; it was expected that the mall would be empty, devoid of life except, perhaps, the occasional geriatric mall walker. Felix raises a brow and they walk deeper in the mall, towards the center court.

Once they get there, they see a large fountain, composed of bright red tile, and two men standing in the center, the water sputtering pathetically behind them. With them is a tall, dark haired goth guy holding a camera; he looks miserable to be there.

“Here, Ferdinand, try tilting your head like this.” The purple haired man takes his hands to the man with long, ginger locks, tilting his chin a few inches lower.

“Ah, thanks Lorenz.”

“What the fuck?!” Sylvain is perhaps a bit too loud as he catches the other trio’s attention.

“Excuse you,” the one presumed to be Lorenz says, his eyes narrow slits. “Do you mind very much? We’re in the middle of a very important photoshoot.”

“Right,” Sylvain says, nodding, his camera panning over them.

Felix grabs his sleeve, pulling him away. “I don’t want them in our shots,” Felix spits out, walking down another of the wide mall hallways.

“Hubert,” the ginger, Ferdinand says, almost scolding in his tone, “turn off the flash! It makes our eyes shine all weird.”

“Yes, Ferdinand,” Hubert says, raising his camera and clicking it for more pictures; he’s not even looking at the camera, just pointing.

“I guess we’re not the only ones appreciating the aesthetic value of this place,” Dimitri muses, but Felix scoffs in front of him.

“They better get the fuck out of that fountain so I can film it before I have to kick their asses.”

“They have it all wrong,” Sylvain says, pointing his camera towards the fountain as they walk away. “None of those are good angles.”

They continue down the hall, Felix being quite methodical about capturing the hallway as if actually walking through the mall. At the end of the hall is an empty anchor store, the metal grate missing some bars the closer they get to it. Dimitri wonders about the appeal of such a place to Felix, but as he turns his head, he sees a faded sign a few stores down, and it comes to him.

“Hellman Cards & Gifts,” he reads.

Felix shivers at the store name and turns around. “Better off closed.”

“Oh shit, Fe, didn’t you used to work at one of those?”

He turns and the look of abject disdain he gives the now abandoned store is palpable. “Worst four years of my life. Dad made me take a job there. Glenn got to work at a fucking sports store and I got saddled with selling holiday ornaments in the summer and wrapping gifts for arthritis ridden hags.”

Dimitri shakes his head dramatically, wrapping an arm around Felix to bring him close. “You don’t have to think about that anymore. I’d say your current job is quite the improvement,” he says, feigning sympathy.

Felix nods, a soft laugh coming from his lips as he zooms in on the decaying sign. He would often talk of the horrors of retail, his teen years devoted to minimum wage work between school and cross-country meets. Perhaps seeing a mall, crumbling before him, told Felix that such an institution was doomed to fail.

Grabbing his hand, Dimitri lead Felix back towards the fountain, the trio from before still posing in the fountain and taking photos.

“You know that’s an awful angle, right? Not at all attractive for your face shape.”

“Sylvain,” Dimitri whispers, attempting to tug him away.

“We didn’t ask for your opinion,” the one named Lorenz says, his arm hanging lazily off the edge of the bright red sculpture within the fountain.

Their goth photographer sighs, staring at the camera with contempt. “I’d say he has a point. Your direction during this photoshoot has been abysmal.”

“Hubert,” the ginger whines, hopping out of the fountain, soaking wet from the knees down. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

Their goth photographer, Hubert, rolls his eyes and surrenders the camera. “I just want to go home, Ferdinand.”

Sylvain laughs and watches as the other one gets out of the fountain, filming what he can before…

“Hey! What are you doing in the fountain? Freaking kids…”

Dimitri groans, turning his head towards one of their unexplored halls and spotting a security guard storming towards them.

“Sir, we were in the middle of a photoshoot, when…”

“Photoshoot?! You can’t take pictures in here! Get out now before I…”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Felix is staring daggers at the other trio, his fists tight balls at his side.

“Get out! And don’t make me call in back up! Kids like you should aim to be _model_ citizens!”

The security guard starts roaring with laughter at his pathetic joke.

Sylvain fakes a laughs at it, ushering them away from the fountain before the situation gets any worse.

“It’s for the best,” Dimitri sighs, noticing that the other trio is following them through the department store.

“This is all your fault,” Lorenz says, his nose high up in the air. “If you three hadn’t…”

Felix runs up to him, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pulling him down, nose to nose. The man looks horrified, and Dimitri is only slightly scared of what Felix might do.

“You’re a fucking idiot. You were the ones in the fucking fountain, ruining our filming.”

“Felix,” Dimitri says cautiously, hands on his shoulders. It seems to loosen his grip, but Lorenz is still startled; the other two are just staring at Felix, as if waiting for him to snap once more.

The rest of the walk out of the store is quiet, Felix fuming at Dimitri’s side, holding his hand in a vice grip. The trio reveals to be responsible for the purple atrocity they parked next to and Sylvain, for some reason, exchanges information with them.

“What?” He slips into the truck, starting the ignition. “Just offering my photography services to them.”

“Can we go?!” Felix’s hood is up, his mood entirely depleted.

Dimitri makes a note to take extra good care of him that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just _had_ to put a dead mall in Goneril. Couldn't resist. They're actually my favorite kind of location, and I really hammer it home in Felix's justification for visiting one. It truly is like purgatory walking through one. And sad when you consider the people who work in one, since retail has practically no job security. BUT. Enough about that. 
> 
> I highly recommend "This is Dan Bell's" Dead Mall Series on YouTube. I binge it every few months, it's excellent. The red fountain in this chapter (featuring Ferdinand & Lorenz are being ridiculous, lol) is heavily inspired by the fountain from the (now demolished) Rolling Acres Mall, one of the more infamous abandoned malls in the US. I could go on, I'm sorry, haha.
> 
> Thanks, as always, for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting closer to the end of the fic! 
> 
> Another sex scene (threesome!!) in this chapter so if you'd like to bypass it, it begins with “He’s almost done with his intro script…” and ends at “Dimitri collapses onto him.”

Talking Felix down from the mall explore takes a lot of energy and Sylvain is happy to let Dimitri take care of it while he finishes up the research of their next stop on the trip. Surprisingly, Dimitri allows Sylvain to use his computer for it.

Dimitri’s plan involves making out with Felix on the bed behind Sylvain, and the sounds of Dimitri’s sweet nothings pairing with Felix’s mumbles and groans slip into his ear. He’ll join them later, but the story behind the Old Gloucester Inn is too delicious to ignore.

He hopes they come across the murder room when they go on their explore the following day. He’s scrolling through various articles and accounts of visitors — and trespassers, much like them — when a husky voice floats into his ear.

“Enough work, Sylvain,” Dimitri says, and he sounds drunk on his own hormones. “Come join us.”

Sylvain shakes his head, trying not to laugh. “You two enjoy yourselves for now. I want to finish off the script for you for when you edit this later.”

“Script?” It’s surprising how easy it is to bring Dimitri back from a horny state. Felix? Not so much, and Sylvain knows he’s going to have to deal with it soon. Moving his head aside so the blond can look from over his shoulder, Sylvain scrolls to the top of his document.

“Murder?”

Sylvain nods, clicking through the various articles until he finds the right tab with the most reliable source. “Nearly half a century ago, some scorned lover attacked their ex. Fun stuff. They ended up closing the hotel not much later due to a drop in bookings. And the original owners wanted none of it so now it just stands there. Abandoned.”

“Dimitri, come back,” Felix mumbles from his corner of the bed. He sounds pathetic, and when Sylvain looks over, he’s wearing just as pathetic of a face; Felix will kill him if Sylvain makes a comment about it. Lidded eyes, wet lips, pink cheeks; he’s not getting out of his horny moment for a while.

“Go tend to your love,” Sylvain says with a hand wave. “Like I said, I’ll be with you two soon.”

The bed creaks behind him as Dimitri crawls back over to Felix, their slightly nauseating make out sounds filling the room. Sylvain is only slightly annoyed that he’s not involved, but he knows it’s a problem he’s creating for himself.

He’s almost done with his intro script for Dimitri when a shirt lands on his head and Felix becomes louder.

“Ahhn, Dimitri,” he cries out and Sylvain knows they’re doing so much more than making out now.

Fuck the script.

He turns to see them both completely stripped and Felix bouncing in Dimitri’s lap, limbs a tangle around him, and lips barely meeting. Why is he always like this with Dimitri? Whenever he’s with Sylvain, he’s an utter pain in the ass.

Dimitri’s mouth is soon latched onto Felix’s neck and the smaller man is nearly screaming now, his normally low voice hitting unimaginable highs.

“What the fuck are you two doing? How did you…?”

Felix slowly turns his head to face Sylvain; he’s wearing that “completely fucked out of his mind” face that Sylvain can’t help but get hard at the sight of. Too bad Dimitri’s already inside him. He’s reminded of the last time the three of them got intimate like this, and Sylvain hums at the memory of that cushy Enbarr hotel; they really need to get back their on a separate trip.

Sylvain strips down to his boxers and crawls onto the bed, situating himself behind Dimitri, hands on his shoulders and thumbs rolling light touches against his skin.

Dimitri gasps out at the touch, turning his head slightly so Sylvain can capture his lips in a kiss.

“Having fun, babe?”

Dimitri nods, his eyes lidded and unfocused.

“Go away,” Felix moans, pushing his hand in Sylvain’s face. “You’ve already fucked me today, let Dimitri have a chance.” He doesn’t let Sylvain respond and immediately attacks Dimitri’s mouth with his own, as if he hasn’t been kissed in centuries.

Horny little fuck.

He’d never admit it, but Felix is the horniest of the three of them. Sylvain resents him for that.

“Yeah, but what if I want Dimitri to fuck me instead?”

They stop; Felix looks pissed — nothing new — but Dimitri is intrigued.

“Y-you…?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been fucked good, babe. And I’ve got all that lube in my bag.”

Dimitri swallows hard, his lips approaching Sylvain like a magnet.

“Yes…” Soon, his lips are on Sylvain’s, wet and slick, sensitive to the slightest of bites. Dimitri moans into his mouth, tongue slipping deep in.

But Felix is having none of it, breaking them apart.

“Go back to your fucking research or whatever, Sylvain, I’m with Dimitri right now.”

Dimitri’s eyes dart between the two of them and Sylvain wants to laugh at how fucking cute he is, bewildered that his dick is in such high demand.

Honestly, there’s a reason Sylvain doesn’t take it so often; Dimitri is so fucking huge and there’s only so much he can handle. Felix is a champion at taking dick. Perhaps he should get that on a shirt for his next birthday gift.

“If only you had two dicks, right babe?” Sylvain’s fingers ghost over the skin under Dimitri’s chin and he shivers, nodding absently.

“You’re such a whore, Sylvain,” Felix growls, trying to get Dimitri’s attention back on him.

“Look who’s talking, Mr. ‘I’ll have two dicks today’.”

Felix grits his teeth and leaps off Dimitri’s dick to attack Sylvain, who’s reduced to laughter and tears as the other man’s cock is dragging against his stomach. But it leaves him open, and after the sound of a zipper echoes in the room, Sylvain can feel a hand, slick with lube, slip into his boxers. Dimitri’s hovering behind Felix, ready to get Sylvain prepped.

“Are you…ready?”

Felix looks back, his now neglected ass high in the air in front of Dimitri’s face.

“Really?”

Sylvain nods, ignoring the human shaped cat on his chest and sucks in a sharp breath when Dimitri presses in.

“Dimitri!” Felix is whining, but Sylvain tugs at his arm.

“Come…come here, Fe,” he tries to say through huffed moans. “Sit on my face while he fucks me, yeah?”

The corners of Felix’s lips turn up; seems like Sylvain has struck a deal.

“B-babe,” Sylvain says, wincing as Dimitri pushes a third finger through. “Pass me the lube?”

Dimitri gives him a wink, a rare sight, but that means Sylvain is in for a good night. He rolls the lube bottle across the mattress and gets Sylvain’s boxers slowly pulled down his ankles. Dimitri positions himself, but continues his slow and measured fingering.

Felix, on the other hand, has completely straddled Sylvain’s chest, inching up ever so slightly until the view of his face is completely blocked off by his dick. But before he can start fucking Sylvain’s mouth raw, Sylvain coats his fingers and grabs a fistful of Felix’s soft, plump ass. He breathes in through his teeth, slowly stroking his dick, waiting for Sylvain to open up.

“We’re gonna have a lot of fun tonight, aren’t we?”

His timing is either perfect or it sucks, as both Felix and Dimitri thrust into his open holes. Only Dimitri’s tip is within him, but it’s so much he gives a pained moan around Felix’s cock, already reaching the back of his throat. He tries not to move, focusing only on his lubed up fingers as they inch closer towards Felix’s extraordinarily prepped hole. He slips three inside without much resistance, Felix crying up above him and giving a shallow thrust into his mouth.

“S-sylvain,” Felix whines out, rolling his hips between Sylvain’s fingers and his mouth, his own hands running through red locks.

Sylvain’s tongue rests just beneath his dick, gently rubbing up against it at an angle that could very well suffocate him. And he needs all the breath he can get when Dimitri’s dick pushes in fully, the mere girth of his cock rendering Sylvain’s vision to nothing but stars.

It’s a mess, to say the least, with Dimitri in the most control, Felix a writhing mess above him, and Sylvain wondering how the hell he agreed to a position like this. But it feels so fucking good, and when Dimitri starts to jerk him off with big, calloused hands, his whimpers around Felix’s dick, feeling his climax just over the horizon.

Felix stars to jerk uncontrollably into his mouth when Sylvain’s fingers reach deep enough and soon he’s coming down Sylvain’s throat. He helps him out, sucking Felix dry through his climax, but Dimitri is far from over.

Felix collapses to the side of the bed, completely spent. With a smile, Sylvain grabs Felix’s hand and brings it to his cock.

“Finish me off, babe?”

Through hazy eyes, Felix nods and joins his hand with Dimitri’s on Sylvain’s dick. He knows he won’t need it, considering how filled he is with Dimitri and how is cock is weeping with precum, but it feels good anyway. It only takes a few more jerks until he reaches completion and he’s coming all over Felix and Dimitri’s hands.

It’s all Dimitri needs to bend over him and fuck him harder, apparently. Fingernails digging into Sylvain’s thighs, his back bent at an obscene angle, Dimitri is pushing Sylvain’s hole to its absolute limit.

Sylvain’s whimpering pathetically and Felix is dragging his cum covered fingers through his hair as a form of comfort.

“F-fuck,” Sylvain croaks out; there’s not a moment where Dimitri’s cock doesn’t make contact with his prostate, he’s so fucking huge.

When Sylvain feels he can’t take it anymore, Dimitri’s back is arched, his voice gasping out moans and he spills completely inside Sylvain.

It’s been a while since he’s felt something like this, the warmth trickling within him; it’s odd, a bit uncomfortable, but still so fucking hot.

Dimitri collapses onto him and Sylvain loses some air due to his near dead weight. He’s spent, they all are.

“Do you think…the bath can…fit us all?”

It can’t. But that doesn’t stop the three of them from trying.

* * *

They decide, for once, to all go out for breakfast on the way to the abandoned hotel. It’s Dimitri’s request; he likes eating out with his two lovers. There’s a nice atmosphere about them when they do, and on a more self-indulgent side, he just likes staring into their eyes from across the table. Dimitri’s a romantic sap and he knows it.

The truck is all packed up and they roam through the suburbs into Gloucester before they pick the perfect little diner.

There’s a hint of what Dimitri can tell is grease and stale coffee within the diner, probably much stronger than he can sense given the way Felix’s nose turns up. But Sylvain looks happy and the three of them get a nice booth in the back corner, Dimitri seated across from Felix and Sylvain. He’s content.

“So Claude knows we’re coming by tonight, right?”

Trust Sylvain to ruin the moment.

At the sound of his name, Felix makes a face and turns to look out the window. Dimitri can never understand why his jealousy never ebbed. Claude was Dimitri’s high school sweetheart, their breakup on amiable terms. But he remembers how Felix would act when the two of them started dating; anytime Dimitri would get a text from Claude, Felix would snap.

It’s gotten better, but Felix still holds some of that bitter energy. It’s the one thing they’ve never talked about and Dimitri cannot understand why.

“Yes, says he’ll get the pull out couch and blow up mattress all set up for us. Says he’ll even treat us to dinner.”

“Sweet!” Sylvain stretches out his arm, resting it on Felix’s shoulder. “Now I can be spared the nasty glances from you two whenever I book a hotel room.”

Felix is silent; Sylvain may be spared, but Dimitri isn’t.

“Come on, Fe, lighten up. You can’t get into a mood like this every time Dimitri mentions Claude.”

“Shut up,” Felix spits, but it has lost its normal bite. Dimitri’s heart sinks in his chest and a silence settles at the table, broken only by the waiter bringing them water and taking their orders. They leave in a hurry, the stagnant air around them palpable.

“I don’t know why it bothers you so much.” Sylvain breaks the silence, twisting the paper cover from his straw into a little ball. He flicks it at Felix who treats it as if he’s been slapped across the face.

“Sylvain, what the fuck?!”

“Quiet, dear, we’re in public,” he teases back with a smirk.

The exchange only makes Dimitri more uncomfortable and he’s relieved when the waiter returns with their coffees and his tea.

He dips the tea bag in the water, watching the colors swirl inside the cup. “I’m grateful for his hospitality during this trip,” he says softly, trying to distract himself from the white noise growing in his mind.

“ _And_ the fact that he supposedly has an in on the amusement park!” Sylvain pours a packet of creamer into his coffee and stirs, his eyes revealing he is not through with teasing Felix. “Right, Fe? Derdriu Wonderland? Aren’t you excited?”

Felix pulls his coffee towards him with such force, it nearly spills out of his cup. “Shut up, yes, I’m excited about the park! Can we change the subject, please?”

Dimitri nods, taking the cup up to his nose, trying to let the faint scent of chamomile calm his rattled nerves, but he can only pick up so much of it.

“I just don’t get it.” Sylvain takes a long sip from his coffee and sets it down. “Are you pissed that Claude was the one to pop Dima’s cherry, or…?”

“Sylvain!” Both Felix and Dimitri cry out in unison, gathering the attention of a few other patrons. He doesn’t seem to mind.

“You’ve been dating the guy for years, why does his high school ex bother you so much?”

“Because…” Felix stops and hides in his hoodie, bringing his coffee so close that it’s blocking his face. “I don’t know, okay? I’ll get over it, whatever. It’s great that he’s getting us into the park, so can we please change the subject?”

“Sylvain.” Dimitri’s voice is terse, reaching his hand across the table to rest it on Sylvain’s.

The red head sighs and takes another sip from his coffee. “Alright. But only because Felix said please.”

Both Dimitri and Felix groan, but it’s enough to get them out of the funk and they’re able to enjoy their meal without the previous drama, though it still weighs heavy in Dimitri’s chest.

They pay their tab, but not without Sylvain flirting with the young woman at the register, and head off to the abandoned Inn. It’s not too far of a drive from the diner, but Dimitri is a little uneasy by how out in the open it is. It sits on a major road, heavy with traffic, surrounded by other buildings in the modest downtown area of Gloucester.

“Well, this should be fun,” Sylvain says, driving around the block. “We should park somewhere…not here. Can’t make it too obvious that we’re trying to get in the hotel.”

The structure is astounding. It’s massive, with gold brick scaling several stories high. It shines from their current angle, but as they round the corner, Dimitri can see the entire backside covered in black soot. Fire damage.

His heart skips a beat, breath growing short as he turns his head to face forward. _You can do this. You’ll have Sylvain and Felix with you_ , he repeats to himself in his head. He’s been wanting to film this location for years, an old resort inn that shines of its heyday from nearly a century ago. It’s construction was commissioned by the last Count of Gloucester, just before the old, antiquated nobility system went completely obsolete; not that it held any value other than bragging rights, even back then. But he always remains cautious of fire damage in a building, knowing it can trigger certain unpleasant memories of the fire that took his parents.

He breathes in slowly, Felix’s hand on his shoulder startling him out of his trance.

“You alright?”

There’s a concern in his eyes, completely different from how he was earlier in the diner, and Dimitri is thankful for it.

“Yes, just…”

“I know,” Felix says, looking out the window. “I saw. We’ll walk ahead of you in there, okay?”

Dimitri nods, resting his hand on Felix’s and giving it a squeeze.

Sylvain eventually parks a few blocks away and they grab their backpacks to hide their cameras as they make their way towards the hotel.

Dimitri knows they’ll gather looks from passersby, given his height; Sylvain insists it’s because they’re all so handsome, but he’s fully aware of his imposing form. They sneak behind the neighboring buildings, dodging behind dumpsters when they find a break in the fence surrounding the hotel.

Felix ducks under first, his lithe frame the most suitable for getting them into locations, and pulls back the fence for Dimitri and Sylvain to follow. The courtyard they find themselves in is overgrown with dead trees, and even though it’s only early autumn, Dimitri is sure they look that way year round. There’s a pool, filled with sickening green water, shallow in the deep end. Felix already has his camera out and Sylvain is getting his ready.

Dimitri tries not to look up; they’re in the back and he knows above is where the fire damage is most prominent. He tries to focus on the courtyard below, taking out his camera to film the discarded pool furniture, lost from decades ago.

“Found a way in,” Felix says to them as he points to a door ajar on the far edge of the courtyard. They scale the building on their way towards it, the gathering of trees thinning on the other side of the pool, but Dimitri is somehow confident they make it in unnoticed.

It’s dark, but Sylvain’s light suddenly reveals an old elevator door, topped with an antique floor maker; a half circle with an iron-wrought hand, no longer pointing at any number in particular.

“Twenty floors,” Sylvain says through a whistle. “How many do you think we can do today?”

Felix shrugs, turning on the light to his camera as he winds down the hall. “I’d rather get the main floor, first. Check-in, ballroom maybe?”

“Nah, the ballroom is on the next floor.” Sylvain winks and turns to Dimitri. “I did the research.”

Dimitri smirks and can’t help but give Sylvain a small kiss. “Yes you did, dear,” he says, following Felix to the front entry way.

There’s a glow trickling in at the end of the hall and Felix has a wide smile on his face.

“You’re gonna love this, Dimitri.”

Once he turns the corner, light falls in at his feet. The foyer of the hotel looks untouched, save for the few packets of dust lying in the corners. The moldings are gilded with intricate designs carved in. Dimitri forgets to even film, he’s in such awe of the splendor around him, unseen by the masses for years. “Wow.”

“Damn, this place is swanky. Think the rate would have been more than the place in Enbarr?”

“Right now, it’s not,” Felix says under his breath, tilting his camera up towards the ceiling. “I can’t believe that chandelier is still in one piece.”

Dimitri looks up, rays of light catching dusted shards of crystal on the chandelier above. Rainbows are cast against the walls and the whole room shines. Finally, he grabs his camera, but he knows film can only capture so much of the beauty around him.

“Check out that grand staircase.” Sylvain catches their attention and right beside the door they came from is a wide spanning staircase, busts of deer at the end of the railings, their antlers chipped away from time. Even the rug has this gorgeous design of a hunt, deer frolicking and medieval looking hunters on their tail.

“The detail people used to put into places like this, it’s unbelievable,” Dimitri says, stepping closer and zooming in on the rug.

“We should go up, check out the ballroom.”

“Second floor, right?” Felix has his back to the stairwell, still catching shots of the stained glass windows above the boarded up entry doors.

With his foot already on the first step, Sylvain nods and points at a sign hanging from the ceiling on the next floor, gold lettering spelling out the word _Ballroom_.

Felix turns, and smirks. “Sweet, let’s fucking go!”

Finishing up his shot, he turns to follow Sylvain up the stairs, but not before Dimitri can catch him in his arms, sneaking a kiss on his cheek before letting him continue his trek up to the second floor.

Looking ahead at the two of them, Dimitri sighs and hopes Felix’s ill mood from earlier has ebbed. He knows when they leave and make their way towards Derdriu, it’ll return. He’ll savor any moment he can het for now.

At the landing, they’re met with more lavish, gold moldings at the edge of the wall, but there’s an obvious decline in the amount of details. Sylvain points, following the signs for the ballroom and heading down the hall towards a set of gaudy double doors. They are unfortunately designed, compared to the rest of the hotel, featuring a painting of a man with thick, purple hair, dressed in the most pompous outfit of his time; small details of heart shaped swirls are painted in the background. They all stare at the doors with twitching upper lips.

“Who is that?” Felix doesn’t even bother to lift his camera.

“Looks like that one idiot from the mall, but that can’t be possible,” Sylvain says, zooming in on the interesting choice of art.

“Perhaps it’s the last Count of Gloucester? He did commission this place to be built.”

Sylvain shrugs at Dimitri’s suggestion, tugging one of the doors loose and opening it up to the wide open space of the ballroom.

Several smaller copies of the chandelier they saw on the first floor hang from the ceiling, the tall windows letting in enough light that the whole room glitters. Dimitri’s camera is pointed up and he’s walking in a trance towards the center, not at all aware of what’s at his feet.

“Whoa, babe, watch out there!” Sylvain grabs the collar of his shirt, pulling Dimitri back before he steps into a gaping hole in the floor; it leads down to an unexplored room below.

“O-oh,” he says, a little shaken. “Thank you.”

“Of course, though I can’t blame you. This place is…”

“I know.” Dimitri smiles, scanning the ceiling above him. The light catches small particles of dust, hanging in the air, disrupting the flow of light, but it still holds its own beauty.

Felix is off in a corner, inspecting a pile of tables and chairs while Sylvain inches closer to a small stage, scanning the room from there.

If not for the gaping hole in the floor, Dimitri would be convinced this building would still open for the masses. It’s a shock that such an immense display of wealth is left to the elements.

“We should head upstairs, yeah?” Felix trots back from his corner, pointing back towards the double doors.

Sylvain nods. “Sounds good to me.”

Dimitri is apprehensive, remembering the fire damage at the back of the building. “I can…stay down here, perhaps? I trust you two to get good footage of the floors above.”

“There was a fire,” Felix whispers into Sylvain’s ear, but all he does is nod.

“Yeah, I know, I read about it. After the place closed. Arson, probably. Or an electrical fire after scrappers screwed up trying to dig the copper wiring out.”

There’s silence, Sylvain thinking tentatively before smiling up at Dimitri. “I’ll stay with you, babe, if Felix wants to go upstairs. Though I’m tempted to find the murder room.”

“Murder room?” Felix tilts his head.

Dimitri waves his hands in front of him, his eyes wide. “No! I wouldn’t want to stop you two from the explore. I can cover the floors down here and you can take care of the rest!”

“You’re still gonna have to see it when you edit, though.” Felix brings up a good point but Dimitri shudders in a breath.

“Yes, I know.”

Silence hangs in the still air of the room and Sylvain sighs. “Alright, we’ll go upstairs. Come on, Fe.”

“Take as much time as you need! This place is…”

“…a goliath, I know.”

Sylvain and Felix go off to continue the explore while Dimitri stays behind.

It takes several hours for them to scan the upper floors and Dimitri is able to make it up a few flights before he reaches any of the hints of a fire; even after all these years, it puts him in a feeling of dread.

It’s almost sunset when they sneak back out, ducking under the fence and rounding the corner back to the truck. How they didn’t get caught is a miracle and Sylvain is almost singing in the streets.

“The murder room, Dima! It was so fucking cool. The only room we came across that was empty. No beds, no furniture, no nothing. Everywhere else had shit strewn about, but this one room? So fucking eerie.”

Felix shrugs as he settles in the back seat of the truck. “It was an empty room, boring to me.”

Dimitri laughs, shutting the door of the truck and getting out his phone. “And you’re sure it was the murder room?”

“Had to be, I cross checked the number. Room 1102. Spent a lot of time in there.”

“Too much time,” Felix grumbles.

Dimitri shakes his head, laughing; he was able to get some good footage of the lower floors, still remarkably intact. Quickly, he sends a text to Claude:

_We’re heading out now. Should take us a little over an hour to get to your place._

He receives and almost instantaneous response back of a smiley emoji which sends a jolt to his heart.

“Claude knows we’re on our way!”

“Great, what’s his address again?”

“Oh, right, that would be helpful, wouldn’t it?”

While Dimitri gives Sylvain the address, there’s a growl in the back seat, but when Dimitri turns to ask how Felix is doing, he’s curled in a ball, wrapped up in his hoodie.

This will be a very long hour…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's location is based loosely on the Baker Hotel in Texas. The Proper People on YouTube have a cool explore of it that I watched while writing!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is great because it presents the only real bit of conflict in the whole story. It gets resolved pretty quickly, haha.
> 
> The last sex scene of the fic is in this chapter! It starts with “Nodding, Felix stares at Dimitri’s lips;” and lasts until the end of the chapter.
> 
> Enjoy! And be prepared for jealous Felix.

“Hey, glad you guys could make it!”

Felix hangs in the back while Sylvain and Dimitri greet Claude, one with a handshake the other with an unfortunate hug.

“Felix, hey! It’s been a while, right?” Claude holds out his hand, that stupid smile of his plastered on his lips.

Felix just nods at him, making sure his arms are too full to indulge him in a handshake. “Yeah.”

“Right…” Claude laughs it off awkwardly and leads them into his apartment. “Haven’t had a chance to really clean recently. Work’s been killer.”

“Is Hilda around?”

Claude smiles as he closes the door behind Felix, holding out his hands to take bags from the trio. “Nah, she knew you three were coming over and wanted to make sure we had ample ‘boy’ time together. She’s over at a friend’s for the next few nights.”

“Bummer,” Sylvain says, feigning a stupid frown. “I’ve heard so much about her, I was excited to meet your lucky lady.”

With a shrug, Claude hurls some of the bags over his shoulder to bring them to the other side of the living room, which is stupid. They could have done that easily. What’s the point of being hospitable if it doesn’t make any sense?

“She’d give you a run for your money, that’s for sure.” The three of them share a laugh but Felix doesn’t get it, nor does he care to. He pulls out a chair, pulling it as far from the dining room table as would make sense, and busies himself with his phone.

“So, where have you three been on this trip so far?”

“Have you been following the channel?” Dimitri sounds so sincere and almost a little desperate, as if he wants Claude to watch the videos.

Felix takes a breath, remembering some stupid thing Ingrid once told him about nonsensical jealousy. Every time Claude comes up in conversation, he feels that uncomfortable pang in his chest.

And now he’s in Claude’s apart. And the guy is _part_ of the conversation.

“Work. Wish I could.”

“We did the old opera house in Enbarr, that’s close to demolition. We also saw this super run down asylum down in Ordelia,” Sylvain says, leaning on the back two feet of his chair.

“Oh, yeah I know that place! It’s like a rite of passage for kids in Leicester. Gotta spend the night or communicate with the ghosts or something like that.”

Sylvain leans forward, his brows waggling. “Do you have any dumb teenage stories about checking out the asylum?”

Claude laughs, gaze turning to Dimitri. “Not when I spent most of my teenage years up in Faerghus.”

Felix hates the way Dimitri’s face turns pink at that sentence.

“Oh shit, that’s right. I don’t know why I keep forgetting that.” For some reason, Sylvain looks at Felix when he says that and it only pisses him off more.

“I always wanted to, though, since I did spend a lot of time in Leicester as a kid. But Dad’s work had him traveling all over, so…”

“Fascinating,” Felix says, dripping with sarcasm, but it’s the silence that follows that makes Felix realize the word left his mouth instead of staying safe and secure in his head. His eyes go wide, not moving from his phone; he doesn’t want to see Sylvain’s smile or Dimitri’s look of horror. Or Claude’s stupid confusion.

“Well, how about I whip up some dinner for you three?” Claude finally breaks the silence, standing up and walking towards the fridge. “Or I could just order takeout. Whichever you prefer.”

“No need to fuss over us, takeout is fine,” Sylvain says, leaning back in his seat.

Dimitri laughs and Felix can hear the strain in it, which only makes him feel worse about what he had just said. “Yes, I agree. Takeout sounds delightful.”

“Felix?”

He freezes; he really doesn’t like how his name sounds in Claude’s voice. He finally looks up and nods. “Sure,” he chokes out, going back to staring mindlessly at his phone, swiping back and forth between app menus.

“Great,” he says in a wink, not totally unlike Sylvain’s but missing much of the suggestive undertones of his boyfriend’s usual wink. “There’s this great Almyran place around the corner and it’s the only restaurant in Fódlan that can compare to the real deal.”

There are grunts and nods of agreement and Felix just sinks in his seat.

The rest of the night is filled with more awkward chatter about Claude’s life and upbringing; why does Sylvain insist on learning all of these unnecessary details about him? Felix can hardly remember when their dinner arrived or what it even tasted like, but the tingle of spices stays on his tongue. At least that’s _something_ he likes about the night.

“And that’s how we _met_.” Claude’s finishing up a story about how he met Hilda, something to do with pissing off her scary older brother or something stupid like that. “But we didn’t start dating for a few months after that. She kept telling me these horror stories about Holst and I just wouldn’t dare for a while.”

Sylvain laughs, like it’s the funniest shit ever — laying it on real thick, he is — and Dimitri nods, as if he’s heard this tale tons of times.

“I can only imagine Dimitri or Felix getting a hold of my brother to ask for his blessing. As if he’d care.”

Dimitri shakes his head, resting his chin on folded fingers. “Glenn is the one we had to worry about. At least I did.”

Felix’s eyes pop open and they glare at Dimitri; he wouldn’t dare.

“I wasn’t allowed to even look at his beloved baby brother until I could prove myself.”

“Shut up, he just likes a challenge, that’s all.”

Sylvain is nearly falling out of his chair. “Wait, are you serious? I never heard this. Glenn’s always been cool with me. Hope it stays that way.”

Felix shoots a glare at Sylvain, knowing full well how Sylvain’s been incessantly trying to flirt with Glenn’s ex-fiancée the moment the break up became official.

Dimitri nods and takes a sip from his soda, smacking his lips before continuing with a tale that had no right to be shared with Claude of all people.

“It was a wrestling match, I believe. He was the champ at nationals back in the day.”

“Oh wait, yeah, Glenn Fraldarius! I remember seeing his name on a plaque at school. Took them to victory over Adrestia that season. Right before our freshman year, right?”

Felix wants to scream. He doesn’t even want Claude knowing his brother’s _name_ , let alone speaking about him so casually.

“Yes! The very same,” Dimitri says, his eyes lighting up. It’s enough to make Felix go weak and forget any antagonistic thoughts he has about Claude. “Anyway, I lost, but he gave me his blessing and, well…” His cheeks go pink before he can finish his thought.

Good. Let Claude know he doesn’t have Dimitri’s heart anymore. It’s all Felix’s. And Sylvain’s, too, but he’s not important in this instance.

“He kind of just glared at me in confusion when I joined up with you two,” Sylvain says, and Felix wishes he were leaning back just a bit too far so he can fall over. “Better than…”

Sylvain stops and Felix groans. He knows what’s coming next.

“Better than what?” Claude says, as if he even cares.

“Better than when he started flirting with Ingrid,” Felix blurts out. Sylvain looks offended, as if he weren’t going to mention it himself.

“Felix!”

“Hey, he’s my brother.” He just shrugs, waiting for this conversation to end.

Dimitri shakes his head. “Ingrid is… _was_ Glenn’s fiancée,” he tries to explain.

Felix grumbles; it’s still fresh. The text message chains from the beginning of the trip are haunting the back of his mind; the engagement off, after nearly three years together. For whatever reason, he’s not sure. Something about Ingrid wanting to pursue a career outside of Faerghus or Glenn not wanting to be tied down. Honestly, he’s tried to ignore all the texts since they left Fhirdiad. He’s only now starting to feel guilty about it.

“You think it’s too soon? To, you know, ask her out?”

Dimitri makes a face and Claude laughs at it. His stupid laugh. “I don’t know how much she’d want to be involved in a polycule that includes her ex-fiancé’s brother.”

“Please don’t, Sylvain,” Felix groans. He opens up his messages from Glenn. They don’t seem too disastrous, but he can’t do anything about it now; he sees that he just responded “k” to about every single one. Some brother he is.

Claude whistles, leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head. “Lots of drama with this crew, huh?”

Felix rolls his eyes and doesn’t hold back his bite this time. “There’s no drama, Riegan, back off.”

There’s little that breaks the silence that follows except for a few sounds coming from Sylvain. Felix doesn’t dare to look up. Instead, he fumbles out of his seat and heads straight for the bathroom.

“Excuse me,” he muffles out of his mouth as he scurries down the hallway. Slamming the door behind him, he slides his back down the door, groaning every inch of the way until he hits the floor.

_That was stupid._

He knows there’s nothing wrong with Claude. He’s been kind enough to open his living space for the three of them, treat them to dinner, and get them into one of the most infamous abandoned locations in all of Fódlan. Felix has to keep telling himself this, convincing himself that there’s no reason Dimitri would abandon him to return to Claude, the dreamy high school valedictorian paired with the hockey champ who took the school team to nationals. There’s no way he’d leave behind five years of a relationship and nearly twenty-five years of friendship for some pretty boy with dark skin and a flashy smile.

And yet, when Felix stands up and looks in the mirror, he sees nothing but a brat. Deep set pout, eyes that are currently set angry, and a temper that can hardly be contained, even though he hates to admit it. He sighs and jumps when there’s a light knock at the door.

“It’s me,” Sylvain hums, jiggling the handle. “You alright in there?”

Felix takes in a breath and unlocks the door, letting Sylvain in.

“I’m fine, I’m just…”

“Letting off some steam?”

Felix flops down on the toilet, thankful that the seat is down, with his head in his hands. “Yeah…”

“You’ve got some unresolved issues with Claude, huh?” Sylvain clicks the door closed behind him, keeping his voice low.

“It’s not that, it’s…”

He can’t bring himself to voice any of the insecurities that are swarming in his head.

“You don’t have to answer, you know that, Fe? Just try to keep things civil until we leave, okay?”

Felix nods and when Sylvain’s hand runs between his fingers, he squeezes tight.

“Come out when you’re ready,” he says, kissing Felix on the top of his head and leaving him to his solitude in the bathroom.

He takes a few more minutes before he heads out, glancing at his phone before he leaves. There’s a text from Dimitri, nothing but emojis: a series of question marks and hearts. Pocketing his phone, he heads back into the kitchen, taking his seat from earlier and nodding to the group.

“Sorry, I’ve…got a bit of a headache, is all.”

Claude smiles, but there’s more caution in it this time. “It’s all good, we all get days like that. Let me get you three set up with your sleeping situation so you can get some rest, yeah?”

Felix nods and Claude slips into the hallway, opening a closet and pulling out a blow-up mattress.

“The couch can fit two of you.” He pauses, smirking at Sylvain and Dimitri. “Maybe. But this bad boy can take care of the other person.”

He unrolls the blow-up mattress in the center of the room and stops. “Oh,” he says, and it makes the three of them at the table stand. “That’s…not good.”

“What’s up?” Sylvain walks over and his eyes widen at the nice, big hole poked in at the top of the mattress. “Ah, well, that’s not helpful.”

Dimitri cranes his neck around to see, concern in his eyes. “The blow-up mattress is…?”

“Busted, looks like it.”

Felix tries not to groan, really tries, and instead swallows it down, looking between the couch and the now useless mattress. “So…”

“I’d hate for one of you to have to sleep on the floor, but,” he pauses, looking at Felix for a while before turning back to the mattress. “There’s enough room for one of you in my bed, if you’re okay with that.”

Of. Fucking. Course.

Before the ire can build within Felix, Sylvain simply raises his hand, a stupid smile on his lips. “I’ll join you, but only if you promise to keep your hands off me.”

Claude laughs and he sounds relieved. “I’m sure that’s something I’ll have to concern myself about you, but if that’s cool with the rest of you, I don’t mind.”

“I’ll take the couch with Felix,” Dimitri says, stepping up to Felix’s side and wrapping his arm around his waist.

“Have fun with Sylvain,” Felix says, attempting to lighten the awkward mood he knows he’s responsible for creating. It works and there’s an amiable chuckle from most everyone in the room.

Sylvain grabs his bag and hauls it over to Claude’s room while Felix and Dimitri move some furniture around to pull the mattress out from the couch. They’re left in silence and each passing moment does little to make Felix feel any better about how he acted earlier.

Claude comes in with pillows and blankets and Sylvain does an excellent job of throwing himself over the back of Claude’s shoulders; he better no get too touchy feely tonight.

“You two sleep well. I’ll try my best wrestling this fox off me tonight.”

“Ohh, I’m a fox,” Sylvain says with an excited lilt to his voice. “Check me out.”

“Good night,” Felix groans out.

“Good night, dear.” Dimitri smiles and waves them off, sighing as he looks back down at the thin couch mattress. “You think it’ll support me?”

Felix rolls his eyes, slipping off his pants and getting under the covers. “Yes, you’ll be fine.”

With a nod, Dimitri quickly changes out of his clothes and into his pajamas, slipping in beside Felix, the bed creaking ominously beneath him. He’s tense, probably from more than just the bed and Felix nuzzles in close, lacing his fingers between Dimitri’s.

“See? You’re fine. It hasn’t fallen apart or exploded or anything.”

“Thank you.” Dimitri’s voice is soft, terse even. Felix knows he has something to say.

“I’m,” Felix starts, his voice nearly caught in his throat, “sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at Claude like that.”

Dimitri turns his head, squeezing Felix’s hand. “Why did you?”

He was hoping to avoid that question. Groaning, Felix buries part of his face in the deflated pillow beneath his head, keeping his eyes on the rise and fall of Dimitri’s chest. “I…don’t know. I guess I’m just…”

“Jealous?”

Felix whines, burying his face deeper into the pillow, impossible though it may seem. “Yes.” His response is muffled, but he can tell by the way Dimitri laughs that it’s been heard.

“Why, my love?”

Dimitri has flipped onto his side, using his hand to lift Felix’s face off the pillow, staring into his eyes.

Felix has never felt more vulnerable and yet never more in love with Dimitri. His eyes are bright blue, soft, the right one with a slight milky film over it. Felix finds it easy to get lost in those eyes and the way Dimitri’s skin crinkles around them when he smiles. He never wants to lose him. Not again. Not ever.

He squeezes Dimitri’s hand hard and kisses him before he answers, hoping Dimitri can feel the desperation on his lips. When he pulls back, both of his eyes are hazy and he can see a light pink dust on Dimitri’s cheeks in the pale light of the moon coming in through the window.

“I don’t want to lose you again,” he croaks out, hardly above a whisper. “You…” He can’t get the next word out, but it doesn’t matter. Dimitri’s hand is cupping his chin, his thumb rubbing up against Felix’s lips.

“We were stupid, back then. Unable to express ourselves and unwilling to find the right help we needed.” His eyes dart to the other room and he smirks. “I never would have imagined Sylvain to be the one to get us back together, but here we are. Four years later.”

Felix nods, closing his eyes and leaning into Dimitri’s touch.

“But why Claude?” Dimitri’s voice hitches up, curiosity in his tone. “You never felt this way about Dedue when I dated him.”

Felix shrugs. “That was different. We were together then, it was a polyamory thing or whatever. Claude is… _before_ me.”

“Ah,” Dimitri says, lying back and staring at the ceiling. “You fear I’ll miss what I left behind, then, is that it?”

Felix just covers his face in the pillow; how is he always able to do this?

Dimitri laughs, pulling the pillow away and hovering above Felix. “I would never leave you, Felix. We’ve already proven that I can’t be apart from you.”

Nodding, Felix stares at Dimitri’s lips; pink, plump and smiling. He reaches up, lacing his fingers behind Dimitri’s neck, and pulling him down for a long, languid kiss. Heat rises in his chest and Dimitri presses down into him, wrapping his arms around Felix and taking him along as he flips onto his back, holding Felix to his chest. The bed makes a sound, and Dimitri whines against Felix’s mouth, but Felix pulls him in closer, parting his lips with his tongue to soothe his nerves.

His legs writhe on top of Dimitri, his groin slowly pulsing with pleasure and he can feel Dimitri react against his ass. Breaking apart, he leans over Dimitri, his hair spilling out beside his face, and smirks.

Dimitri shuts his eyes, but his hands are tight at Felix’s waist. “We really shouldn’t,” he whispers.

“Shouldn’t what?” Felix tilts his head and he can feel the mischief curling in the back of his head; someone has to be the naughty one while Sylvain is away. “Fuck in the living room of your ex-boyfriend’s apartment?”

Dimitri bites his lip and nods. When he opens his eyes, Felix sees how much he wants to continue, the heady pleasure swirling behind blue eyes. And so Felix responds to Dimitri’s eyes, sitting upon his stomach and peeling off his hoodie. He tosses it to the side and guides Dimitri’s hands over his chest, sucking in air as callused fingers gloss over his nipples.

“You’re so beautiful,” Dimitri gasps out.

Felix smirks; oftentimes, Dimitri’s lovey sex talk makes him flush red, embarrassed for the litany of praise being dealt to him. But the way Dimitri looks tonight, eyes heavily lidded and fierce with desire, his hands carefully scanning every bit of Felix’s flesh, he’ll take it. He juts his hips back to bump against Dimitri’s now rock hard cock and smiles at the tiniest of gasps that leaves his lips.

“You’re not half bad yourself,” he purrs, low. He mirrors Dimitri’s action, hands snaking low and running up the larger man’s chest, grabbing a fistful of tit. He hums, barely touching Dimitri yet circling his thumbs over needy, pert nipples.

Dimitri’s hands freeze on Felix’s chest, grabbing hold and pushing him back against his cock. “F-felix…”

“I thought you didn’t want to do this,” Felix says, lowering his thumbs ever so slightly to flick at the bright pink nubs. Dimitri cries out and Felix laughs, a low rumble settling in his gut. “But look at you, so needy.”

He grabs more of Dimitri’s chest, letting the flesh spill up between his fingers and humming as his own arousal grows. Dimitri is the beautiful one: pale cheeks flushed a pretty pink, chest broad and full, lips wet and glossy, and his hair, a soft mess framing his face. Felix bites his lip as a shock of pleasure seizes up his spine. “Wanna fuck your tits,” he whispers, feeling Dimitri’s cock twitch upon his ass.

“Aah!” Dimitri cries as Felix squeezes his chest a little more.

“Would you like that?” Felix tilts his head, staring as his thumbs gently rubbing the sensitive nubs of Dimitri’s nipples, moving up and off before returning sensation to Dimitri’s chest.

Dimitri nods viscously, hands going right for Felix’s hips, shuddering fingers trying to grasp him tightly.

With a smirk, Felix briefly dismounts to discard his briefs, returning to straddle Dimitri’s chest, his cock slapping right between his lush tits. He begins to rub along Dimitri’s sternum, guided by large hands firm on his thighs. He breathes in, holding back a moan as his hands return to Dimitri’s chest, squeezing soft flesh and pushing it in and up against his cock.

“Aah, f-fuck,” he moans out, head tilting back. He continues to thrust and push up, daring to glance down at the sinful sight below; Dimitri, eyes drunk on arousal, lips parted. It’s enough to stir Felix’s balls tight as they sit against Dimitri’s abdomen. He swallows hard and continues to thrust into the shallow divot of Dimitri's chest.

“Gonna…paint that pretty face of yours.”

“Please,” Dimitri moans out.

Felix bites his lips, rolling his head back as he grinds hard over Dimitri’s chest. He swallows down a moan as Dimitri’s hands work in circles on his ass cheeks, inching closer to his hole with each thrust from Felix’s hips.

He doesn’t look back; he knows Dimitri’s cock is pushing up against the tight confines of his briefs, but the thought is enough for the pleasure in his gut to coil tighter in a knot. He moans out softly once a finger breaches his hole, delicately tugging while Dimitri’s other hand guides Felix through his thrusts.

“Fuck,” he moans, shaking fingers struggling to contain the expanse of Dimitri’s chest. He manages to squeeze them tighter around his cock and after a few erratic thrusts, Dimitri’s finger pushes far enough inside to send him over the edge.

“Ahhh, Dimitri!” He keens as he comes all over Dimitri’s chest, tendrils of white spraying up his lover’s neck and a small amount landing on his chin.

It takes a few moments until Felix falls from his high, staring down at Dimitri’s devilish smirk as he pops a cum covered finger into his mouth.

“A-are you…?”

“Delicious,” Dimitri says, dragging his finger across his chest as he gather more of the spend covering his tits.

“You can’t even taste, asshole.”

Dimitri laughs, taking his cum coated finger and bringing it behind Felix, pressing it in alongside his other finger, still pressed lightly against Felix’s prostate.

Felix sucks in a breath, not expecting the added warmth of his own spend, but the sound of Dimitri’s chuckles sends a fresh surge of pleasure through his cock, still sitting in a puddle of cum on Dimitri’s chest.

“You’re quite eager tonight,” Dimitri coos as he glances down at Felix’s cock. “Must be from all the pent up jealousy.”

“Oh, fuck you-aaah!!”

Dimitri pulls him wide, his fingers working deep, grazing over the spot inside before thrusting out and back in again.

“No need to worry, my love, I’ve already said so.” And suddenly, his bare cock is up against Felix’s ass. “You’re mine, for now and for always.”

Felix rolls his eyes, but he’s ready to be filled. Enough of the stupid banter.

“What about Sylvain?”

Resting his hands on Felix’s thighs, he smirks, lifting his lover up with relative ease.

“He’s not here right now.”

And then, he thrusts in.

Felix tosses his head back, crying out; it’s just the tip, but his ass clenches hard around it before loosening up for more.

“Aaa-ah, Di-dimitri!!” He slips lower, swallowing hard and looking Dimitri right in the eyes; his gaze is unwavering, only Felix in his sights.

Good. Just how he wants it.

He takes a breath, bracing himself to take even more of Dimitri’s length until he’s completely filled, a gentle rub up against his prostate.

One of Dimitri’s hands stays at Felix’s thigh while the other reaches up to brush strands of hair from Felix’s sweaty face.

“I love you, Felix.”

It’s all Felix can stand before he feels his face burst with heat; Dimitri always gets sappy during sex.

“S-stop that,” he whines and then he begins to move. A gentle hitch of his hips forward at first, he begins to build his momentum until Dimitri is rendered speechless, fingers gliding over flesh and desperately clinging while Felix moves.

“Nnn, aaah, Felix!”

He picks up his pace until his own dick, fully hard once more, is slapping against his stomach, coating it in a thin gloss of precum. He rocks harder until the bed is creaking relentlessly beneath them and Dimitri begins his own thrusting up.

Every thrust hits Felix just right every time, shocks of white stunning the periphery of his vision until he can’t take more.

“Dimitri, hnnn,” he cries out. “M-more, aahh!”

Dimitri grips tight, and Felix knows those fingers will leave bruises. But he doesn’t care. He bounces to each of Dimitri’s thrusts until he’s spilling over their stomachs this time, filling the room with his cries as Dimitri milks him dry.

His cock gives a few last pathetic bursts before Dimitri ups his pace, hands firm at Felix’s waist as he brings him down hard on his cock. It takes all of Felix’s energy to even sit up right, but once he clenches hard, Dimitri cries out, filling Felix with his spend.

They both collapse, exhausted and sticky, but Felix’s heart is light. He smiles and shuffles up to kiss Dimitri right at his chin.

“Love you,” he croaks out, receiving a tight hold from Dimitri in response.

They lie there, regaining breath, and normal heart beats when suddenly there’s a banging on the wall.

“Oh, fuck yeah, Claude, give it to me harder!!”

Both Dimitri and Felix groan. “Sylvain,” they say in unison, as their boyfriend continues to slam the wall in the other room, crying out obscene imitations of sex. Claude’s laughter can be heard peeling out the cracks of the door as Sylvain continues.

“Oooh, yeah baby, fuck me good!”

“Shut the fuck up, Sylvain,” Felix screams, wincing as a dribble of cum seeps out of his ass when his body shifts.

Sylvain just laughs along with Claude and after a while, he miraculously shuts up.

Dimitri hums a light laugh, holding Felix close and mindlessly brushing his hair. “Perhaps we should shower?”

Felix just blushes, burying his face in the miraculously dry crook of Dimitri’s neck. All he does is nod and Dimitri kisses his head.

“Alright, my love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been on a "Felix is jealous of Claude & Dimitri" kick since my fic "More Than This" where that comes up at least twice. Idk, I think it's cute. I wanted to add some jealousy-conflict because, idk, it's real, and it happens in polyamorous relationships all the time. And it's okay. Because these boys communicate with one another.
> 
> Thanks for reading! The last two chapters will be uploaded together next week!


	13. Chapter 13

Dimitri happily holds Felix to his chest, having been awake for a while now. The sun is just creeping in through the window when his lover’s eyes flutter open, slowly gaining focus of the world around him.

“Good morning, beloved,” Dimitri hums, peppering Felix’s freshly woken face with kisses.

Felix whines, but he never pulls back. In fact, he holds Dimitri closer to him and mumbles something incoherent.

Soon, the bedroom door opens and Sylvain saunters into the living room, Claude right on his tail and heading into the kitchen.

“Oh, good, thought I heard you stir in here,” Sylvain says with a wink.

“We’re hardly stirring,” Felix groans, his face buried in Dimitri’s chest.

“Well, you sure were doing something of the like last night.”

Sylvain laughs but Claude turns with an awkward smile. “I have a washing machine in the unit, just…so you two know.”

Dimitri feels the flush across his cheeks but it’s nothing compared to Felix, bringing the sheets over his head.

“Thank you, Claude,” Dimitri barely chokes out.

Sylvain smirks, leaning back on one of the dining room chairs until only two legs are making contact with the floor. “Hey, it’s what he needed to get that bitchiness out. Am I upset I wasn’t invited? No.”

“We all fucked like that other night, are you seriously that insatiable?”

Claude turns with an upturned brow and Felix is back against Dimitri’s chest.

Sylvain’s melodic laugh fills the room and he stands up, walking over to ruffle Felix’s hair and kissing him on the temple. “I’m just teasing.”

“Please don’t have a threesome on my sofa bed,” Claude says, his lip curling. “I don’t think it can handle it.”

“Of course not, Claude,” Sylvain winks. “That’s what your _bedroom_ is for.”

“You’re sleeping on the floor tonight.” Claude doesn’t hesitate with his clap back and Sylvain roars with laughter.

Dimitri smiles, shifting to sit up and take Felix with him, but the bed sheets slide off him and he hastily grabs them to pull them up and cover his still nude form. Not like it’d be new for anyone in the room to see, but still. He is a man of decency.

Felix grumbles as they move, but his hold around Dimitri’s chest is still tight; it’s going to take a while to get out of bed.

Claude regards the two of them, taking eggs, butter, and other ingredients from the fridge. “Do you two need a moment of privacy before breakfast? You know, to get dressed?”

Dimitri feels his face heat up and just smiles and he holds Felix closer. “Ah, perhaps?”

With a nod, Claude leaves his ingredients by the stove and waves as he heads out of the kitchen and down the hall. “Let me know when you’re ready for breakfast!”

Felix groans as Dimitri shifts in bed, but soon, the two of them are up and hastily getting dressed.

“I’m still super annoyed you two decided to have fun without me,” Sylvain says with an over-exaggerated sigh. “I was just one room over.”

“Shut up, Sylvain,” Felix bites back, pulling a pair of leggings up to his waist.

Dimitri smiles and, fully dressed, walks around the sofa bed to stand up against Sylvain, hands on his shoulders. “We’ll be home soon, love.”

Sylvain smiles back, wrapping his arms around Dimitri’s waist and pulling him close. “Good. You better let me fuck you silly when we get there.”

Dimitri holds back his sigh and lets Sylvain kiss him before calling out to Claude, “All clear!”

Felix huffs, pulling a tee shirt on quickly. “Seriously?”

“Yes, Fe, I’m fucking hungry,” Sylvain whines, letting go of Dimitri.

Claude returns with a smirk, covering his eyes as he walks into the kitchen.

“You sure?”

“Yes, Claude,” Dimitri laughs, hearing the slightest of groans behind him; perhaps it will take a while for Felix to fully get over his jealousy. He tries to not let it bother him. Today is their last official explore of the road trip, one of their most anticipated locations and the one to guarantee them one million subscribers. With a gasp, Dimitri realizes in the moment that he hasn’t checked their channel in a few days. He runs back to the couch, looking for his phone, while Claude starts up the stove.

“We have all day, just so you guys, know.” He’s cracking an egg into the pan, the sizzling of it filling Dimitri’s ears.

“So what exactly is your connection to Derdriu Wonderland?” Sylvain rests his chin on top of laced fingers as Dimitri returns with his phone and an extremely grumpy Felix.

“My grandfather used to own the park and…kind of still does? Hasn’t done anything to the property since it closed. Then he died and never left it to anyone so…it’s in this weird state of limbo because the state doesn’t own it but neither does a person? The estate does, or whatever. I think. Anyway, my uncle gave me the keys and told security to lay off a bit.”

“Huh,” Sylvain muses. “That’s…weird. So your family owns it, but doesn’t?”

Claude laughs, scrambling the eggs in the pan while taking them off the heat. “Yeah. The legal logistics are weird but essentially, we do. But that would be good information for the video, yeah?”

“I can’t believe you’ve been the key to exploring this place the whole time,” Felix finally says, flopping into a seat.

“What, does that upset you, Fraldarius?” Claude merely shoots him a wink which garners another groan out of Felix.

Dimitri sits beside Felix, placing a firm hand on his thigh and instantly settling him into a sense of calm. “I think he means that he didn’t realize we knew someone with such close connections to Derdriu Wonderland.”

Felix huffs and mumbles something to himself but Claude just laughs, continuing to cook breakfast as the faint smell of butter tickles Dimitri’s nose. He’s thankful he can still smell a bit, but still wishes he could taste Claude’s cooking.

They eat pretty quickly; according to Sylvain, they’re the best scrambled eggs he’s ever had. Once their bellies are full, they start to get ready to head out to the park with renewed vigor once Dimitri reveals: their channel has officially hit nine hundred thousand subscribers.

* * *

Felix rides in the back seat of the truck, as per usual, with Sylvain at his side. Dimitri is driving with Claude in the passenger seat, and Felix is thankful they’re mostly taking weed infested backroads so Dimitri’s road rage doesn’t surface. Most of the pictures of Derdriu Wonderland are taken from the side of a main highway, but Claude insists there’s a back way that rarely anyone knows about save his family and the authorities.

He’s still pissed that Claude’s connections to this the place are as tight at the are; his grandfather used to own it? But he steadily gets over it once he realizes he will finally be able to not just film, but walk among the crumbling remains of the theme park.

The overgrown thicket of weeds at either side of the truck part to reveal a heavily cracked road, tall bits of grass peeking through the asphalt, leading to a rusted chain link fence. Out ahead is a towering roller coaster, faded yellow paint chipping to reveal the bright green layer beneath it. Felix feels his heart rate increase; he needs to get in there.

“Right over there,” Claude says, leaning over the dashboard and pointing to an open spot beside what looks to be a gate.

Sylvain is already filming with his phone, saying he couldn’t resist getting the behind the scenes process in getting into the park; Dimitri will probably use it for a vlog post.

Dimitri parks the truck and the four of them hop out of it, grabbing their cameras and making their way to the gate.

“Really hoping the alarms don’t go off,” Claude says, working with the lock and smiling when the gate slides away without a hitch.

“Awesome.” Sylvain sounds giddy and is the first to run into the park; Felix is pissed it’s not him.

Dimitri follows in behind Felix as Claude closes the gate back up.

“Security should have the day off, but even if there’s a communication flub, they won’t find your truck. That spot’s not part of their rounds.”

“Good to know,” Sylvain calls back as he weaves through tall grass and weeds, the roller coaster growing closer.

There’s another one, a wooden coaster that starts to rise at their right and Felix aims his camera to get a better look.

“I can’t believe we’re finally in here,” he whispers, dumbfounded by the fact that he’s not dreaming. There have been a few amateur explores of the place in the near decade since it closed and some awesome aerial shots from drones, but there isn’t a single video online of the perspective they’re getting. Felix bites his lip to hold back the question that’s burning in him.

_Can we stay until nightfall?_

“So this ride back here was the Wyvern’s Flight,” Claude starts to say. Felix groans; he didn’t ask for a tour guide, he already knows the park inside and out. Sylvain normally does the research, but for this place? Felix has known all about it for years. “It was brand new last time I was here, and I was just tall enough to ride it. Pretty cool, look at that loop there.”

He points as they get closer to the dim yellow coaster, the tall vertical loop rising above the grass.

“I nearly puked on that loop. That would have been fun.”

Sylvain aims his camera for the loop. “Awesome.”

Dimitri also gets his angle in and looks over to Felix, a wide smile on his lips. “We have such a perfect day for this, don’t we, Felix? Perfectly overcast.”

Felix nods, but wants to keep walking. He doesn’t care about Claude’s anecdotes about the park nor Dimitri’s comments on the weather; he just wants to climb the side of the lift hill and get a shot of the park from above.

“Where’s the station?” Felix asks, finally stepping on some hard pavement, overgrown with shorter weeds.

Claude winks and takes the lead. “Follow me. It’s a wonder I still know this place as well as I do.”

“What, do you sneak in here often?” Sylvain laughs, keeping close to Claude.

He doesn’t answer, but soon, they turn a corner and there are rusted stairs leading to the ride’s loading station. A ride vehicle is still parked on the tracks.

Felix nearly runs up the steps, ignoring the ominous creak it makes under his feet. The vehicle has eight separate cars in it, each seating four people in a row. The foam of the overhead straps is cracked, years of neglect showing. He turns his head up to the lift hill and smirks at the sight of the stairs.

“I’m going up.” He doesn’t intend to say it as loudly as he does, but Dimitri is crying out behind him.

“Felix, wait! There’s no railing, you’ll…”

He crawls over the rusted out ride vehicle to the opposite side of the station platform and steps onto the first step alongside the lift hill. Pointing his camera up, his heart beats furiously in his chest; ever since he has started filming abandoned locations with Dimitri and Sylvain, Felix has wanted a shot like this. With steely resolve, he begins the climb.

Dimitri, for all it’s worth, is wrong.

Kind of.

There _is_ a railing at the side of the stairs; it’s low and incredibly rusted, parts of it having long since decayed off, but it’s there. Besides, he’ll be fine. He wore his best shoes for this explore — he was smart enough to pack them, considering how poorly he packed for the rest of this trip — the rubber soles gripping tight at the iron steps. He captures an incredible shot of the slow climb up, both the ride tracks and the service stairs in view. More of the park fills the space of his lens, the overgrown, dead trees growing smaller and smaller as he rises to the top.

And then he’s there, and Dimitri proves to be right; there’s no railing at his side. One wrong step could send him plummeting the near two hundred feet to the ground.

Whatever.

Coolest obituary ever, right?

_Fhirdiad man falls to his death after climbing an abandoned roller coaster and getting the sickest shots for his urbex channel._

Goals.

Regardless, he takes care to keep still, not looking down, just looking out through his camera. There are low buildings, most likely dark rides and arcades, shops and food stalls, littering the park below, as well as the wooden coaster to his right, their next stop. Out in the distance, he can see the ferris wheel, its cars swaying in the wind — his stomach lurches at that sight — and a drop tower of another thrill ride beside it. Further out beyond the remains of the water park, he can see the sea, the crashing waves sounding so distant from so high up.

There is so much of this park he still needs to see.

He gets one more good pan in before turning his lens to the rest of the Wyvern’s Flight ride when he hears Dimitri call out to him.

“Felix, get down!!”

He’s closer than he thought and with a careful turn, Felix spots Dimitri several feet down the stairs, clutching to the metal at his sides.

“Dimitri, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Felix, please get down, I don’t want you to…”

“Get hurt?! What about you, Mr. ‘No Depth Perception’?”

Dimitri whines. “I won’t go down without you, please.”

He’s begging, and the look in his eyes is nothing short of fear.

Felix sighs; he’s thankful he got the shots, but a few more minutes at the top would have made this video beyond compare.

“We can’t go down together, boar,” he teases, dredging up an old nickname he knows Dimitri hates. “You start first and I’ll follow, okay?”

Dimitri nods, shutting his eyes tight.

“You’re going to be the death of me Felix, I swear.”

Felix smirks and takes the first step back down the roller coaster; it was worth it.

* * *

“And how’s our little dare devil?” Sylvain teases as Felix hops off the coaster stairs after Dimitri still clinging tight on the rusted railings.

“Shut up, Sylvain,” he bites back, hands tight on the camera. “You’ll eat your words when you see the footage.”

“That sure was something. Dimitri nearly had a heart attack watching you climb that thing.”

Dimitri sighs, a hand clutched to his chest. “I was so scared he would fall.”

Sylvain laughs along side Claude, his new best friend, if he’s honest.

“That drop is pretty gnarly, not gonna lie. Scared the crap out of me as a kid, and that was from the comfort of a supposedly secure ride vehicle.”

Felix has a ghost of a smile on his lips. “It’s fucking awesome up there.”

“Okay, enough of the Wyvern’s Flight, I wanna check out the wooden coaster, with less climbing this time,” Sylvain says, taking charge towards the opposite side of the park.

“Fine!” Felix groans, but he curls easily into Dimitri’s arms and the two of them are whispering sweet nothings and shit that Sylvain has been left out of since the previous night.

“I better get one hell of a blow job when we get home because you two have been third wheeling me on this last leg of this trip.”

“Sylvain.” Felix narrows his eyes, but Dimitri smiles, looking thankful to laugh after the feat he just attempted.

“Love, we can do that in the truck if you’d like.”

“Please, no blow jobs in my presence, thank you,” Claude says with a hand wave, quickening his pace to the other coaster.

Sylvain laughs but shoots Dimitri a wink. “I’m holding you to that, babe.”

“So, anyway!” Claude’s voice rings loud throughout the park and Sylvain nearly shushes him before he realizes the guy has the keys to the freaking place. “The wooden coaster is called the Failnaught. One of the first built in the park. It was super fast, super rickety, and a park patron favorite. The lines to this thing would take hours to get through.”

“Not anymore.” Felix laughs as he closes in, camera on the ride ahead.

“I’m surprised it’s still in such good shape, all things considering,” Dimitri says, looking up at the crossing wooden beams under the ride.

“Bad boys like these are known to last, as long as there aren’t termites.”

“Or rot,” Sylvain says, pointing to the obviously rotted wood at the base of the coaster. “Felix, you are definitely not climbing this thing, unless you want to tumble to the ground with it.”

“I’m not climbing anymore rides, okay?! Seiros’ tits, Sylvain.”

“Yes, I dream about them, too, Felix,” he snarks back, instantly shielding his face with his arms to brace himself from Felix’s oncoming attack.

“That’s a shame,” Claude sighs. “But good timing for you guys. Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I’ll have this uncertain access to the park. The ownership issue could be solved any day and this could all be leveled.”

“Which is exactly why we film this shit, Claude. One last hurrah for places like Derdriu Wonderland.”

Claude smiles, placing a hand on Sylvain’s shoulder. “You know, I should probably subscribe to your channel, then.”

“You mean you aren’t?” Felix sounds obnoxiously accusatory.

“No?”

Sylvain groans, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “No, he said so last night.”

“I didn’t…”

“Listen? Obviously. Come on, Claude, tell me all the cool shit about this Failnaught coaster.”

Claude smiles, winks, and continues to spew facts about the ride and the park’s history in general. After a few cool shots — from the ground, as Dimitri, Claude, and Sylvain have to constantly remind Felix — they head towards the far end of the park, out towards the ferris wheel. The creaking sound of the the cars swinging is such a wonderful addition to the creepy ambiance he’s going for. Super cloudy, overcast day in an abandoned theme park; this is sure to be the video that gets them over the one million subscriber threshold. Sylvain is sure of it.

If they don’t get already hit the milestone before the upload.

“I can’t tell you how many times I fantasized about kissing Dimitri at the top of this thing.”

Dimitri blushes at Claude’s admission, while Felix huffs behind them all.

“You always did talk about wanting to take me to a carnival while we were dating,” Dimitri laughs, aiming towards the top.

“It closed right around the time we were dating and I remember being so pissed about it. But at least I’m taking you now, right?”

Dimitri nods, but Sylvain’s eyes are on the tall spire-like structure beside the ferris wheel. “What was this thing?”

Claude turns his head and walks up to it; there’s nothing but metal. No ride vehicles, no signs, nothing.

“I think this was the Fallen Star. One of those drop rides.”

“I saw it from the top of the Wyvern ride,” Felix says, getting close enough that Sylvain thinks he’s going to scale the thing.

“I don’t remember much of it besides the ads they put out when it opened. Didn’t last long. I think it was the park’s last ditch effort to bring in guests.”

“What exactly happened?”

Claude shrugs, leaning against a railing that once formed a queue. “Grandpa got old. Didn’t put much stock into the park. Lots of bad storms flooded it a few times, too. And guest attendance was dropping after they build that resort in Ailell..”

“Terrible place for a resort and theme park if you ask me,” Sylvain edges in.

“Yeah, but excellent theming. Dragons and fire and hell. Shit like that really brings in the money. Add a resort with a casino and an indoor water park and any small parks like this go under.”

“Oh shit,” Sylvain says, glancing around. “We still have to get shots of the water park.”

As if the Goddess herself heard Sylvain’s words, the sky above them opens up, unleashing a torrentialdownpour upon them.

“Fuck!” Felix darts under the overhang of a food stall, covering his camera in his hoodie and the other three follow suit.

“It didn’t think it was gonna rain!” Sylvain sighs, leaning on the rotting wood and staring out as water splashes down to the ground.

“I’m just glad this didn’t start when Felix was on the coaster.”

There’s another huff from Felix, but Sylvain agrees with the sentiment.

After about a half hour of waiting out the rain, they count their losses and start to head out of the park — after the worst of it passes, for now, according to their phones.

At the truck, Claude slides the gate closed and locks it, hopping into the passenger seat while Sylvain shuffles into the back.

“Hey, thanks for that! We got some really awesome footage and a stellar tour, if you ask me.”

Claude glances around the head rest and gives Sylvain a cheesy finger gun. Which he loves. Unironically.

Felix is beside him in the back, huffing about a ruined day, but Sylvain slides his hand over his thigh, sending him to an instant calm.

“Be thankful for the shots we got, babe,” he says, kissing him on the cheek.

Felix sighs and rests his head on Sylvain’s shoulder.

Their final planned stop of their urbex road trip is now behind him. And for that, Sylvain feels a slight twinge of despair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this location! Loosely based off of Nara Dreamland and, my personal favorite abandoned theme park, Six Flags New Orleans. I made Claude's story about the ownership of the park confusing for a reason because I always feel like the reason some of these structures stay up for so long is because of weird legal logistics like that, idk.
> 
> Thanks, as always, for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of an epilogue than a full chapter. :)

Their second night at Claude’s goes swimmingly with no drama; Dimitri makes sure to thank Felix with a flood of kisses as they cuddle in bed. Claude cooks a hearty meal for the three of them as they show off some of their favorite shots from the theme park explore. The rain doesn’t let up until morning and they’re packing everything up as Claude finally hits the subscribe button to their channel.

“I hope I can find some time to watch these videos,” he says, scrolling through their feed. “Damn, you’ve got some high counts on these recent videos.”

“Where’s the subscriber count at?” Sylvain cranes his neck over the kitchen counter as Claude whistles.

“Nine twenty five, about. Damn, that’s a lot in one night!”

Dimitri feels that nervous rumble in his stomach, but it’s good.

“We might actually do it,” he says softly, and Felix gives him a quick kiss.

“We will.”

They start to load up the truck and wave off Claude as he gets into his own car, heading out to work.

“Thanks for having us!”

He honks his horn, drives off, and the three of them start in the opposite direction, ready to return to Fhirdiad.

“So it’s really over, huh,” Sylvain muses as he turns onto the interstate, the bright green road sign above them reading FAERGHUS.

“Yeah.” Dimitri unlocks his phone and points the lens to Sylvain as he presses record. “One last vlog for the road?”

Sylvain laughs but Felix makes no sound and Dimitri can guess he’s either checking on the cats or texting Annette that they’re heading back.

“Guys, gals, non-binary pals…we did it. We’ve finished up the road trip and are heading home. We’ve been to some awesome locations, as I’m sure you’ve already seen some of them so far, and we’ve got a lot more for Dimitri to edit and update once we get back.”

Dimitri laughs behind his phone, zooming in on Sylvain’s face.

“It was…awesome, to say the least. But the Lost Boys are ready to be found. We’re ready to head home. So thanks for your support, for all the recent follows and subscriptions, and as always…”

He pauses before he looks back to the phone for one last wink.

“Stay lost, my friends.”

An hour or two into their ride out of Leicester, they’re rolling through the low hills of southern Faerghus when Dimitri turns on the heat as the chill returns to the air. There’s nothing out beyond them, but dull meadows and dead grass.

Felix has fallen asleep in the back and Sylvain’s content to drive in the silence, choosing not to play his best slow jams playlist.

Dimitri’s head is resting on the window when he spots an old, run down barn on the side of the highway.

“Hey, Sylvain,” he says, reaching over to poke his boyfriend in the thigh. “Look.”

He glances over and smiles. “Lots of run down barns in this area of Galatea.”

Dimitri nods, thinking of their early days on the channel; locations like this are everywhere in Faerghus, and filming them is what truly got them started. “Wanna pull over? Do an old school Faerghus Lost Boys video? Just a quick explore.”

Sylvain glances around the highway; they’re alone, they haven’t passed a single car for miles.

“Sure. We’ll make it quick so we don’t wake Felix.”

Dimitri smiles and leans over to place a kiss on Sylvain’s cheek.

“Thanks, love.”

* * *

Just after they make it back home, releasing Annette and Mercedes from nearly two weeks of cat and apartment sitting, the Faerghus Lost Boys snuggle up in their King sized bed, quickly falling victim to sleep while the truck is still loaded with their equipment and bags.

It’s nearly 2 in the morning when Dimitri wakes up, yawning as he reaches for his phone and as he scrolls through, he smiles when he sees:

**Faerghus Lost Boys**

**One Million Subscribers**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for sticking to the end!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm on [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/thnkurluckystar)


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